Rebels With A Cause
by x.Cult Of Personality.x
Summary: At Rockmore University, BFFs AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian, Jeff Hardy, and the Motor City Machineguns have always been misfits, underachievers, and rebels. Suddenly, terrorists have taken over their campus. Now, years of bad behavior are about to pay off.
1. Chapter 1

**_AN: All right, peeps, here's a new one I whipped up after seeing this movie in my English class the other day that I got inspired by. This is based off of the movie Toy Soldiers. Great stuff. Hope this is to your liking!_**

**_Oh yeah, some of this is going to be rated M for language, violence, and chiz like that. Just wanted to add that in._**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Somewhere in Havana, Cuba, troops, crowds, and reporters alike were rushing to the scene of a town courthouse, where a hostage standoff was currently going down. Spectators were running for their lives, news cameras filmed every second of the chaos, ready to catch what would happen next, while guards and troops aimed their rifles towards the windows of the courthouse. The men inside of the courthouse were standing by the windows and fired back outside towards the spectators, shattering car windows and such, and everyone sped as far as they could, screaming all the way. One of the news cameras zoomed in on one of the men holding a young Cuban woman hostage with one arm around her, and firing his gun with the other.

Inside of the courthouse, the ringleader of all this, a man named Hugo Chavez comfortably sat at the judge's desk, watching the craziness go down on a small TV monitor in front of him, as his lackey/sidekick, known by the name of 'Dodge' watched along, stroking his shotgun with his hand. Hugo held a handgun of his own and banged it against the desk as if it were a gavel.

The courtroom was dead silent.

Hugo slowly turned around to look at the judge sitting a few feet away from him. "Where is my father?" Hugo demanded. "Where have they taken him?"

"T-There's nothing that I can do. Your father has already been taken to America." the judge replied quietly.

"We have been sitting here watching the airport, and I have not seen him depart from Cuba." replied Hugo.

"That's a different plane!" replied the judge. "Your father has been taken from a military base earlier today."

Hugo snarled, approached him, and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You are lying."

The judge glared back at him. Not hearing an answer, Hugo then looked towards one of his guards standing by the window with the woman he held hostage, and sent him a small, yet approving nod. "Now."

The guard nodded back and then forcefully used the gun to jab at the woman's back, causing her to fall out of the 15 story window.

Outside, the spectators screamed in shock, but it was too late as they saw that the innocent woman had been killed on impact, blood all over the front stairs.

The judge was baffled, but then Dodge called, "Boss, check this out." He turned the TV monitor to him, revealing a news report about Hugo's father.

_"We interrupt this program to bring you this developing news update."_

Hugo turned to the screen, totally focused.

The reporter continued, _"Live via satellite from the United States, Guliano Chavez, known most infamously when he was tried and arrested for trafficking a series of narcotics, has just arrived at Homestead Military base near San Diego, California..."_

The footage had shown Hugo's father being taken and escorted in a limo.

_"...even as the gunmen here at the Cuba Courthouse of Justice are now continuing to demand his release."_ the reporter finished.

The judge was still dead silent, but Hugo nodded at the news and then once again approached the judge, eying him down. "That's it. You, come with me." he announced. Before he had a chance to reply, Hugo grabbed him by the arm and led him towards the back door of the courthouse. He turned back to the other gunmen and cried out a phrase in Cuban, and the men led all of the hostages towards the back door as well.

Soon after that, they all ended up on the roof of the building, where there was a waiting helicopter for Hugo and his gang. He forcefully led the judge to the helicopter and shoved him inside, while the other gunmen forced the other hostages to stand on the edge of the roof, facing away from the helicopter. Then, the remaining gunmen leapt into the helicopter as it started up. Dodge was the last to enter, and the copter slowly maneuvered off of the roof and into the sky. The spectators and troops outside could only watch. Once the copter was high enough, Hugo led the judge, who had a part in convicting his father, towards the edge of the open copter. "You are garbage to me!" Hugo spat in his heavy Cuban accent, right before he whacked the judge in the head with his gun and shoved him out of the copter, sending the judge flying down to who knows where, meeting his eventual end.

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><p>*<em>DONG...DONG...DONG...DONG...*<em>

It was a beautiful day in Encino, California, as students from the Rockmore University for Boys were headed back to class when the midday bell rung. See, this was no ordinary University, because the boys here were all sons of very wealthy, influential, or powerful parents. They were sent to this school not only to get a decent education, but it was also almost like a boarding school. Most of the boys here were former juvies and were kicked out for doing something totally stupid at their former schools, so here they ended up.

A few of the boys were now running track for their gym class, and five of the boys in that group consisted of best friends AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, and Jeff Hardy. They had all come from different parts of the country and had not known one another before they all met here two years ago. (Alex and Chris did, though, since they've grown up nearly all their lives together in Detroit.)

As the boys ran, a guard was watching over them, when Kazarian quickly snatched the guard's baton and ran off, laughing, "Whoops, too slow!"

"HEY!" cried the guard, chasing after the large group.

Kaz and the boys dodged the guard and then ran to a sign that read, 'Rockmore University for Wayward Boys, Founded 1881'. There, laid a bag which consisted of some soccer balls and a can of red spray paint. "Always knew this stuff would come in handy." Jeff smiled, handing AJ the paint.

"Yeah, this brings back memories of the fun times I had vandalizing that police car at 3 am while those porkers were stuffing their faces down at the donut shop." Styles smirked, taking the spray paint and crossing out the word Rockmore. Alex looked ahead to see the guard still distracted with the other boys. "Coast is clear, dude." he announced.

"Nice." Styles chuckled, spray painting the word REJECTS, replacing the word Rockmore.

Meanwhile, the boys, led by the fast tongued Austin Aries were now playing Monkey in the Middle with the guard's baton, with the poor guard trying to grab it back. "Don't make me take out the pepper spray!" he cried.

Alex and Chris continued looking back and forth to make sure the guard was still distracted.

"Hurry up, man, those guys aren't gonna keep him away much longer." announced Sabin.

"Hold on, almost done." Styles muttered. Then, he smiled at his handiwork. "Yay, me."

"Congratulations, you want a Golden Ticket for that? Now let's get the hell outta here!" Kazarian exclaimed before the five sped off. The guard was finally able to snatch his nightstick back when Austin smirked and said, "Why don't you ease up on the donuts, you fatass, and maybe you won't spend the next 15 minutes running around in circles like an idiot."

"Ha ha, very funny, punk." the guard snarled.

The five boys finally joined the group. "Hey, just finished that 5 mile run and BOY, are we famished! Later, we're gonna catch something to eat-" Styles began, but was interrupted when the guard said, "Up bup bup! The Dean wants you five in his office immediately."

Austin was about to head off when he finished, "YOU too, Aries!"

The boys looked at one another, and AJ and Austin eyed each other down. They really weren't the best of friends. In fact, they pretty much hated each other, because they often fought to be the King Rebel of the school.

"...Crap." muttered Jeff. "Nice knowing you guys."

"Is this about that termite incident? Damn it, Alex, I TOLD you that was a bad idea!" snapped Chris.

"Well, how was I supposed to know they liked to feed on the fake wood on the Dean's desk?" Shelley demanded back.

"I can't believe you guys are even arguing about this right now." announced Kaz.

"Guys, guys, keep it cool, will ya?" AJ asked. "We've gotten away with shit before, we'll get away with whatever shit we did now."

"Well, I don't know why the hell I'M being brought into this." Aries grumbled. "I don't have anything to do with whatever crap you all got yourselves into, and even if I did, I'd come up with something WAY better than...termites."

Alex and Chris shot him a look. "...So?" they both demanded.

"Hey, leave em alone and shut your face, Aries. Let's just see what the Dean wants with us now." Styles announced.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, they knocked on the Dean's office door.<p>

_"Come in!"_ called a voice.

The boys entered the room. "Hey man, what's the haps?" AJ asked the Dean of the school, who was none other than the Icon, Sting himself. (Minus the face paint and all.) He turned around in his swivel chair, and all the boys wanted to know, was who the hell the two men standing on either side of him were.

"Who's the suits?" asked Alex.

"Well, these two gentlemen are two United States Marshalls who wish to have a word with you, Mr. Aries." Sting announced. He looked at the other five guys. "ALONE."

"Hey, all right! Dibs on the last Fat Cake!" Jeff cried, speeding out of the room along with the guys rather quickly, happy to leave Aries alone.

AJ backtracked, smiled, and said, "Call us when your momma picks you up from here and-"

Austin cut him off by slamming the door in his face. "Sorry about them. You were saying?" he asked.

Outside...

"Guys, wait, wait." AJ stopped them.

"But we're trying to keep Jeff from getting the last Fat Cake." Chris whined.

"Later! Don't you guys want to see if Aries is gonna get fried or not?" he asked.

"Sure, I could use a good laugh." agreed Kazarian.

"Awesome. Now lift me up."

The boys obliged and allowed Styles to crawl over their backs, allowing him to see the scene from the door's window.

Inside...

"Now listen, it's just a safety measure that we're taking involving everyone in the Guiano Chavez case." one of the men told Aries. "Especially since your father is heavily involved."

"My dad was an assistant judge since I was five." Austin replied.

Outside...

"What's going on, dude?" asked Jeff.

"Hmm...they mentioned something about Austin's dad." replied AJ.

"Oh the assistant judge, right?" asked Chris.

Styles nodded.

Inside...

"Ok, now Hugo Chavez, his son, is dedicated to his father." the other man continued. "He even went so far as to take over the courthouse over in Cuba to get his father back safely. The judge there and two innocent people over there were killed."

Sting looked towards Austin, but then his eyes caught Styles peeking in over the door. Outside...

"Now what's going on?" asked Alex.

"They're talking about some dude from Cuba." Styles replied.

"Hmm. They have some pretty good salsa over there." Jeff whispered.

"Yum, yum, yum." agreed Shelley.

"Guys, will you shut up so I can hear what's going on?" Styles whispered sharply.

Sting turned back to Austin. "So that's why we have to take these measures. You and your folks will be in a safe and secluded place, so there's no worries, all right?" he asked.

Outside...

A random kid headed down the hall and slapped Kaz's ass. He yelped. "Hey, leave my ass alone, dumbass!" he snapped, almost causing AJ to lose his balance. "Knock it off down there!"

Back inside...

"All right, so where the hell am I going, then?" asked Austin.

"We're not sure at the moment, but it will be a safe and secure military operation." the second man said. Meanwhile, Sting said nothing and opened the door, allowing the boys to lose their balance and all fall inside of the room, piling on top of each other.

He and Austin looked down at them.

They paused and then smiled. "...HELLO!" they all cried unanimously.

"Well, ya might as well come in. Sure you heard most of it. Why don't you spend this free time that you have now to let your little friend and roommate pack his things?" asked Sting.

"He's not our friend." Styles said, eying him down.

"I don't want any of you having your grubby little hands all over my things anyway!" he snapped back.

A couple of hours later, Austin, Sting, and the boys were all outside, ready to give Aries his big send off...

"Good luck in your future endeavors, son. Hope you come back as soon as possible." Sting said, shaking his hand.

"We don't." Styles muttered, eliciting chuckles from his friends.

"Oh please, I am the KING of rebels this place has ever seen, and if you think that YOU have the balls to replace me, Styles, you're damn wrong." he stepped into the back seat of the car. "Too bad I won't be here anymore to watch you fail."

The self proclaimed 'Phenomenal One' just glared at him and reeled on the inside.

Soon after that, he slammed the car door and the vehicle headed off.

Kaz stuck out his tongue towards the leaving car, while Alex held up a 'peace' sign with his fingers, as Chris and Jeff laughed along.

"Uh, Allen, can I have a word with you, son?" Sting asked, pulling him aside as they headed back towards the school.

"It's AJ." he corrected. "And I'm not your son."

He chuckled and continued, "Anyway, ALLEN, I've just been pretty curious lately. Were you off of campus yesterday afternoon between the hours of 3:30 and 4:45?"

AJ gave him a fake look of surprise and gasped. "ME? Sir, why would I defy your rules and head off of campus, knowing that I'm still on probation?" he asked.

"Oh, I dunno...maybe cause the security guard's car was vandalized yesterday with the word 'Rejects' spray painted on both sides. And for some reason, the word 'Oink' was painted on there, too."

AJ looked back towards Alex and smirked. His friend could be totally random sometimes and it cracked him up. "Sir, are you accusing me of vandalizing property that doesn't belong to me?" he asked.

Sting looked down at him and placed a firm hand on his shoulder, smiling. "You're off the hook this time, Styles. But remember, wherever you turn...I'm watching you."

"Should I be concerned about this?" Styles asked as the group headed off.


	2. Chapter 2

**_AN: Ok, so this chapter's somewhat rated M and you'll see why if you read below. Just a warning._**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

That night, the grumpy, angry guard had locked the front gates as the last bell rung, and from a high window in the building, AJ peeked out to see Sting and another guy heading inside of another building.

"Bingo." he smiled. "Stinger's out of sight, out of mind. It's time to go, dude." he told Kazarian, who he shared a room with.

He was at his desk, doing some homework. "Come on man, this stuff's due in the morning." he replied.

"Oh Frankie, don't be such a priss, all right?" AJ demanded.

He slammed down his pen and turned to look at him. "This is YOUR homework that I'm doing!" he snapped.

He nodded and smiled. "And that's why you're my best bud, Frankito." he said, slapping him on the back.

"Didn't I tell you not to call me that?" he demanded.

"Yeah, yeah, now COME ON! We gotta grab the guys and get down to the place while we still can." Styles said, pulling his friend out of his chair and shoving him out of the door.

...

Soon after that, those two, along with Chris, Alex, and Jeff, all snuck out of their dorm building and managed to make their way into the kitchen, with AJ leading the way.

"Why does this have to be such a long damn walk over here?" Chris demanded.

"Why do you have to be such a lazy ass?" Alex asked back.

"Why do YOU have to be such a smartass?" Chris snapped in reply.

"Why did YOU have to take the last Fat Cake earlier?" Jeff asked him. "That was mine and you know it!"

"Hey, I'm a growing boy, I need sugary, fattening nourishment!" Sabin argued back as the five moved over a few shelves in the kitchen, revealing a hidden door installed in the floor. AJ opened it, revealing a set of stairs that led to a hidden floor in the building.

"Yeah dude, everytime you stuff your face with sweets, your digestive system can never handle it and you end up heaving it back up inside of a plastic bag." Alex chuckled.

Chris playfully slapped him on the back of the head. "Don't tell em my personal business, douche! It's not like I told everyone about the time you accidentally ate dog biscuits!" he cried.

As they headed downstairs, AJ, Kaz, and Jeff all laughed.

"You ate dog biscuits?" exclaimed Styles.

"Well, I didn't know!" Shelley exclaimed. "Chris tricked me into eating them! I thought they were girl scout cookies!"

Next, they all approached what looked like a man made hole built into a brick wall, leading into the boys' personal secret basement that nobody else knew about. "Hey, look...A hole." Jeff chuckled. "Hole."

"You're a hole for telling everyone my secret, Sabin." Alex muttered.

"Your mom's a hole!" Chris argued back.

"OH!" AJ, Kaz, and Jeff exclaimed.

"Don't you bring my mother into this, dipwad!" Alex snapped back as the five headed into the dark basement. "You're a...a pimple!"

Chris laughed. "A pimple? Is that the best you could come up with?"

"Can we all just get along?" Kaz asked.

"NO!" Chris and Alex snapped.

"Just askin." he muttered.

"All right, guys let's all keep the love and peace going here, all right?" Styles announced while the guys pulled up some chairs and sat around a table. "We are in our late night paradise. Who brought the drinks?"

"Right here." Jeff said, taking a few containers out of a bag. "Here's the Robitussin!"

"...Medicine? You expect us to drink MEDICINE?" exclaimed Kaz.

"Ain't no fussin with the Tussin." Alex announced.

"How'd you even get a big bottle of that stuff?" Kaz continued.

"Oh, relax, why don't'cha?" Jeff exclaimed. "Trust me, with a few shots of this, we'll be plastered in no time."

"You're so weird, dude." Chris chuckled.

He smiled back. "I know, thanks! Anyone want a smoke?" he asked, taking out a box of cigarettes.

"Wow, Hardy, Tussin AND cigs, you've really prepared for tonight, haven't you?" asked AJ, taking out a cell phone and an answering machine.

"Hell's yeah. Last call for cigs?"

Alex was about to take one when Chris stopped him. "Dude, are you crazy? You have asthma, you can't smoke!"

"Well I am sorry, MOM!" Alex said, pouting. "I'll just sit here and keep sipping on my Tussin."

"Ok, guys, I propose a toast." announced AJ. "To Austin Aries. Wherever the hell he is now, I guarantee that he'll never get laid another day in his life!"

The guys toasted their 'drinks' together. "Cheers-here here!" And when they all drunk, they nearly chucked it back up.

"Ohh, that damn Tussin..." Kaz muttered. "Why couldn't you just bring some Bud Light or something, dipwad?"

Jeff replied, "Oh, stop being such a Diva, you know there's no liquor anywhere on campus."

Styles spoke up. "Oh, I beg to differ."

"What do you mean?" asked Kaz.

"Well, haven't you guys noticed that that medicine didn't exactly TASTE like medicine?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah. It tastes...different. ...What'd you spike it with, dude?" asked Chris.

He chuckled. "Oh, just some Cognac that I had stashed underneath my bed." AJ replied.

"No kidding? How'd you keep it from the goonies roaming around here?" asked Alex.

"Easy. I just grabbed a whole set of Robitussin bottles, poured the liquor in every one, and added in a little red food coloring to make it look like medicine. Easy shit." he explained. "And that's when I sent the stash to you, Jeff."

"Nice." he smiled.

"Dude, you never cease to amaze me!" Kaz exclaimed, sharing a cool handshake with him.

"Well, I don't mean to amaze you any more, but I've sold a few bottles of these to the other guys and made some pretty serious dough." Styles continued grinning.

"You're pure genius, Styles. No wonder they call you the Phenomenal One." Kaz told him.

"I know. Now you guys sit back and relax while I get the arrangements going." he said, hooking up the phone and the answering machine.

"Ooh, arrangements?" Jeff asked, taking another breather on his cigarette.

The smoke circled around Chris and he intentionally coughed to get Jeff's attention.

The Enigma turned back. "Is there something bothering you, dude?"

"Uh, yes! If you have to smoke, then do it by an open window or something. I'd rather not catch secondhand smoke inhalation from you." replied Sabin.

"Agreed!" added Kazarian.

"Oh, you two need to lighten up!" cried Jeff. "It's not like you two have ever done anything crazy in your lives."

"Have SO!" Chris argued.

"Yeah, how the hell do you think we ended up in this school?" agreed Kaz.

"I dunno, you remind me." Hardy replied.

Kaz sighed. "Remember, I got kicked out of my old high school for 'allegedly' having sex with a minor."

"...How minor?" asked Alex with an interested smirk.

"...13." he finished quietly. "But we were in the closet when we did it, AND she told me that she was 17 like I was!"

"Oh for shame, Kaz. For shame." Jeff laughed. "And what about you, Chris? How'd you make it in this school?"

"Well, truthfully I did nothing. Alex did all the dirty work and I just took the fall with him since he's my best friend." he shrugged.

"I'm so proud of me." Shelley smiled contently. "But still, Jeff had a great point. You two never do anything wild and crazy around here. The craziest thing I've ever seen - well heard Sabin here do is jack himself off when the lights are out."

He gasped. "I do NOT!"

"Oh, so you expect me to think that all the heavy breathing that I hear at night is you snoring? Please, man." he laughed.

"I do no such thing!" he cried, turning a bit red.

"Oh don't be ashamed, Chris, Frankie here bops his Boppo on late nights, too." AJ announced, when Kaz spat out his Robitussin.

"No, I don't!" he cried, startled.

"Dude, settle down, we're all boys here. We all have needs, so we all understand." he said, dialing a number. "Ah, and speaking of bopping boppos..."

"Who you callin?" asked Alex.

"Hold on, just listen." he paused. The phone rang a few times until he asked, "Hello?" He turned on the speakerphone button on the answering machine, before a woman's voice on the other end said, _"This is Mandy. Who are you, handsome?"_

"Joey." AJ lied.

The boys smirked in anticipation.

_"Well. Hello, Joey. Mmm...oh, I like that name. Tell me what you look like."_ she said in a breathy moan.

Chris stifled his laugher.

"Hmm..." AJ began, looking around at his friends. "Well, I have some..sexy black hair with a blonde mohawk..."

Alex's eyes widened and he silently smiled and mouthed, "Sexy?"

"Uh...I'm 6'1..." he continued as Kaz nodded. "I have some crystal clear blue eyes..." he continued, looking towards Chris when he signaled thumbs up. "...And...did I mention that I'm an artist?" he finished, looking towards Jeff as he smiled.

_"You sound VERY sexy, Joey...ohh! I like blonde mohawks on a tall, studly sounding man like you..."_ she continued moaning while the guys continued stifling their laugher. Jeff leaned in to listen more closely. _"Ohh, I've also got long, blonde hair...and I'm also very, very tanned. I'm wearing a black laced bra and panties right now and they look SO HOT against my skin..."_

Alex's eyes widened and he smiled, while Chris grinned and silently chuckled.

_"Ohh! Would you like me to take my bra off?"_

Styles nodded. "Yes, please. I mean, if you want to, baby."

The boys snickered.

Meanwhile, in Sting's office, he was looking through some paperwork when he noticed that a red light on his phone was blinking. Puzzled, he picked up the receiver and pressed the red button, hearing that horny Mandy cry out: _"OHH! My tits are so hard right now! Very big and very hard..."_

Shocked and disgusted, Sting's mouth dropped open as he heard this filth coming into his ear.

_"Ohh, OHH! I'm rubbing my breasts! Ohh, it feels so good!"_

Back in the basement, Kaz was sitting there with a blank look on his face, unknowingly drooling in the palm of his hand, Jeff was two feet away from the answering machine, Chris's eyes were still wide open, Alex bit his lower lip, and AJ nodded with every word that she was saying.

_"I'm rubbing my hands all over my body now! Ohh, OHH! My hands are inside my panties now, OHH!"_

"You STICK it, baby!" Alex growled with a smirk, joking.

_"Ohh, OHH, I'm completely naked!"_ she continued, as an irate Sting roamed down the halls, searching for the kid he KNEW was responsible for all of this - AJ Styles.

_"...except for black stockings and high heels!" _

Now, all five of the boys were closely huddled by the answering machine, intrigued.

_"Would you like me to leave them on or take them off?"_

While she was still moaning, the boys whispered, "Take it off!-Off, NOW."

Styles nodded. "Why don't ya...leave em on." he said, ignoring his friends.

_"Ohh, OHH, Joey!...You're so sick! I LIKE it! Ohh..."_

He bit his lower lip to keep from bursting out in giggles. "She_ likes _it!" he mocked, whispering to them.

Meanwhile, Sting approached a cabinet in the hall, showing a map of every possible entranceway and room in the school. Oh, the boys were SO busted.

_"...so soft...so big!...Ohh, I just want to touch it!" _the horny woman continued. _"You want me to touch it, don't you, Joey?" _she half whispered.

Styles lazily slouched on the table. "Sure. Touch wherever you please." he said casually, smirking all the way.

_"OHH, OHHH, OHHHH, JOEY!"_

Alex shook his head and whispered, "Ooh, you SCREAM my name, you horny MILF!"

The guys tried to contain their laugher as best as they could.

"_OHHH, OHHHHH, JOEY..."_

"Boom, wham-a-lam!" Styles exclaimed.

While they were focused on the sounds coming from the phone, AJ noticed a faint light coming from the door.

_"Ohh, OHHH, OOOOOOOHHHHHHH-"_ her climax was cut short and cut off when he called, "Oh shit, someone's coming, hide!"

The phone was immediately disconnected as Jeff, Kaz, Alex, and Chris all hid behind random objects in the room. AJ rushed to dispose of the leftover Robitussin, and then went on to hide the phone's cord when the light suddenly shined in his face. Sting was NOT pleased.

"H-hey, Headmaster Sting, how's your evening so far?" Styles asked.

"Ah, Allen, I should've expected this from you. So uh, whatcha doing down here by yourself in this basement with...a few empty bottles of Robitussin?" asked Sting.

"I just had a bad cold and took some yummy Robitussin to make me feel just a little better." he made up that excuse.

Sting raised an eyebrow.

"...Ain't no fussin with the Tussin!" he exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air.

"...Uh huh. You know I can't ever believe a word out of your lying mouth, Styles. And I know that your little pals are here, too. Come on out, boys, I know you're in here!" he exclaimed, shining his flashlight around.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir, they're sound asleep in their rooms." he replied.

"...Choo!" Chris sneezed from out of nowhere.

AJ rolled his eyes. "Shit." he muttered.

"Watch your mouth, boy!" Sting said sternly. "...Mr. Sabin, will you please come out here?"

He shook his head and meekly joined AJ. "…Hi." he greeted timidly.

"Mr. Shelley, you too..." he continued.

Alex stepped beside Chris, smiled, and told him, "God bless you."

Chris smiled back and replied. "Oh, thank you!"

"Mr. Kazarian, Mr. Hardy, come and join your little group here before I'll have to do a cavity search to find you instead!" called Sting.

Kaz looked down and Jeff silently cursed before they were the last to join their friends.

"'Sup?" Jeff greeted.

"Oh, don't you 'sup?' me. Now I want the five of you in my office 9 am sharp tomorrow morning. Now get to bed." he said sternly.

The five of them were about to head off, when Sting stopped AJ. "You, stay and chat with me for a sec."

"But I'm tired, sir!" he whined.

"Well, you were awake enough tonight to have a chat on the Sex Hotline, so you can stay awake to listen to what I have to say." he replied. Then, he looked at the phone and the answering machine. "Wow, such impressive devices. Where'd you even get these, Allen?"

He shrugged. "PC Richard's. Got em on sale, two for one." he replied.

"You don't say!" Sting smiled. Then he immediately frowned and tossed the electronics on the floor. "Stomp on em."

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

"You heard me. Stomp on them."

"Why?"

"Cause I said so! Now go ahead, do it!"

AJ shrugged and stepped over the answering machine.

"Oh, not like a sissy! Pretend that it's my head or something, stop the living hell out of it!"

Styles obliged and did just that, smashing the answering machine in half. Then, he was silent for a moment before he asked, "Well, sir, what the hell was the point of that?"

Sting's eyes pierced into his and he shoved his bag with the empty robitussin bottles inside into Styles' chest. "Get to bed." he finished.

"...Okay." he muttered innocently, heading off.

Sting shook his head, exasperated. How much more could he take from this kid?

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, somewhere in a deserted rural area of the country, a rather large, covered truck was driving along a dirt path. Some police officers saw the truck from a distance and they drove after them. A few moments later, the covered truck stopped.<p>

An officer called, "Freeze! This is the police! Come out with your hands up!"

The group of men emerged from the back of the truck and the cops reluctantly had their hands near their gun holsters. They didn't see when Dodge, Hugo's sidekick, slowly appeared, holding a machine gun. He popped up and began firing, immediately killing both men before they had a chance to fight back. Soon after, Hugo, the madman himself took out a device from his bag and handed it to Dodge. While one of the other gunmen placed the officers in their car and doused the interior of the car in gasoline, Dodge placed the device, which was a bomb on the dashboard of the car for good measure. Soon after, the bad guys sped back into their truck and drove off. Dodge was still holding the detonator to the bomb, Hugo nodded, and Dodge pressed the button, causing the car with the men inside to blow up. The terrorists' next stop - Rockmore University.


	3. Chapter 3

**_AN: Just wanted to thank 450AirBourne and KrystynaCenaxD for their last reviews!_  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Meanwhile, back at the school, Sting had caught up with AJ and they strolled down the hall.

"Whose idea was it to put liquor in Robitussin, anyway?" the Dean asked.

"Aw, Headmaster, you had to have done the exact same thing when you were my age!" he exclaimed.

"Maybe. But it's none of your business." he replied, before approaching another dorm door and knocking. "Mr. Roode? Mr. Storm?" he called.

Soon after, Robert Roode and James Storm got up to meet their Headmaster. "So is it true that Mr. Styles here sold you two a liquor spiked bottle of Robitussin?" he asked.

They looked at one another and then at AJ, not knowing what to say exactly.

"Y'know, if you give me those bottles in less than 5 seconds, I'll choose not to expel the two of you." he smirked.

The two frat boys of the school looked at one another again before rushing into their room and then handing Sting a couple of bottles of the stuff. He smiled. "Thank you. Ta ta for now." he said pleasantly.

The boys meekly inched back into their room, slowly closing the door. Meanwhile, AJ wasn't amused. Later, the two headed down the halls, looking for anyone else who was sold the tainted medicine. "So, anyone else in any of these rooms down here you sold any of that crap to lately? Here? Down there?" Sting asked.

"Look, sir, if you want to kick me out of this school, then just kick me the hell out already! I don't want to look like a wuss in front of my friends." Styles said seriously.

"Now, why would I want to kick you out, Allen? You've already been kicked out of three other prep schools, what, should this place just make it another tally mark on your ever growing list?" he asked back. "Look, son, you may get on my nerves sometimes, but the last thing I'll do is expel you. Now who else have you sold that crap to?"

He knocked on the nearest door and said, "Excuse me, this is your Dean here. Now if you've purchased a bottle of Robitussin from AJ here, I suggest that you hand it over to me in the next three seconds before I choose to expel you."

A second later, a hand with a bottle of Tussin poked out of the door.

Sting snatched the bottle. "Thank you. Ta ta for now. Now you never answered my question, Allen."

"Does it matter, dude? So what, I just got a little liquor, big deal!" Styles argued.

"Listen, son, I am your Dean and you will address me by sir, understood? And there's no liquor permitted ANYWHERE on my campus, you got it?" he asked sternly.

AJ looked back at him. "Yes, sir."

"Good, now how many other people did you sell the liquor to?"

"Eight."

"DON'T lie to me!"

"I'm NOT!" he called back. "Sir, could you please just let me grab the bottles from everyone, y'know, to save time and everything?"

Sting studied him carefully. "All right, I trust you. Go. You got 10 minutes to get those bottles back to me!" he called.

"Ten minutes." AJ echoed, not looking back as he headed off.

Meanwhile, Sting looked towards him and couldn't help but to chuckle a little. Styles sort of reminded him of himself when he was his age.

* * *

><p>A little later, in Sting's office...<p>

AJ dropped the bag containing the empty bottles on the couch. "Eight bottles in ten minutes. Just like you asked." he announced, before looking Sting dead in the eye. "So, are my expulsion papers filed out and ready yet?"

"Allen, I just don't get it. See, say that I just happened to kick you out of this school. Who would you live with? Surely you're way too young and dangerous to live on your own. Ever consider moving back in with your mommy?"

He snarled. "And go back to her drunken escapades with the newest guy of the week? To see her passed out from drugs at the kitchen table every night? I think I'd rather be living in a cardboard box." he said scornfully.

"All right, so why are you trying so damned hard to get yourself kicked out of here when clearly there's no reason for you to?" asked the Dean.

"Cause I feel like it. I have to do something to keep me and my friends entertained around here." replied Styles.

Sting nodded. "All righty then. Well you know what? I have a little theory. Since you've already been kicked out of three schools, I've chosen not to expel you, because I want you to stay here."

He raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"Allen, some part deep down in me feels that I can't give up on you, and I won't. You're staying here until the day that you finally graduate, whether it be three more years or ten." he continued.

"Oh? But you know how hardheaded I am. What if I end up wearing you out?" asked Styles.

"I doubt that, son." Sting said with a gleam in the eye. "Because I'm the one who's gonna be wearing YOU out."

AJ was speechless.

* * *

><p>A little later, AJ returned to his and Kazarian's dorm room. Kaz was lying down, reading a book when AJ stormed into the room, slamming the door.<p>

Kaz turned to him. "I take it that things didn't go well?" he asked.

He kicked a few boxes around. "Dude, he was pissed with me." he muttered.

"So what's your punishment? Did he kick you out?"

"I wish. Instead, he placed me on kitchen duty for the rest of the year." he grumbled.

"Aw, come on, that's not too bad." Kaz shrugged. "Look at it this way, you get to spend your day around the slop that they serve here instead of roaming around the streets like a hobo!"

"Frankie, it IS bad! Sting's trying to embarrass the shit out of me and I am NOT going to look like a wussy in front of our friends." AJ snapped. "Something needs to be done. Something drastic, something unexpected. Something that'll drive Sting up the wall."

"...Well, good luck with that. Night night!" Kazarian exclaimed, lying back down.

"No night night! You're in on this with me, dude."

"Come on, man. We were lucky to have gotten off of the hook tonight, I don't think we should make things any worse. Besides, the sooner I get to sleep, the sooner I get to dream about Mandy." he smiled.

"Damn it, forget about that whore and listen to me! You gotta help me think of something to do. Got any plans in mind?" asked AJ.

"Hmm...set off the sprinklers in the cafeteria?" replied Kaz.

"No."

"...Stink bombs in the auditorium?" he exclaimed, excited.

Styles looked at him with a blank expression. "...Dude, how DID you make it in this school?" he asked.

"Shut up!"

"Ok, I...I got it." Styles smiled. "I got it!"

"Got what?"

He tossed him his shirt. "Get dressed and follow me. C'mon." he replied.

* * *

><p>Early the next morning, the bell rung, and a student knocked on Sting's door.<p>

"Come in."

"Uh, sir? There's a situation going down in the quad." he announced.

Sting raised an eyebrow.

Soon enough, he headed outside to see a crowd of people huddled around something. "Excuse me, excuse me-what the hell?" he muttered, seeing most of his belongings on the front quad for all to see. The Headmaster looked absolutely stunned when he approached one of the fellow teachers there, Eric Bischoff.

He chuckled. "Wow, Stinger, you must've pissed someone off to have them do this to ya."

He picked up a pair of his boxers from the grass. "Oh, I know exactly who I pissed off."

"Well hey, man, things could've been a lot worse! He could've...I dunno, set the sprinklers off in the cafeteria or set off stink bombs in the auditorium!" Bischoff exclaimed.

Sting turned to him. "...How DID you make it in this school?" he asked.

Eric looked at him and then walked off. Sting looked around at all the students, sighed, and then caught AJ and the gang quietly snickering. "Styles! Get over here." he said through clenched teeth.

He pointed to himself in question and then approached him.

"Sabin, Shelley, Hardy, and Kazarian, join your little friend over here."

They did what they were told as the other students were mumbling 'Ooh!' in the background.

Sting faced them. "All right. You boys will have the wonderful privilege of putting all this furniture back where it belongs-"

He was cut off when a pizza crust was tossed towards him and into Sting's beloved cabinet.

The boys snickered.

But the Headmaster was pissed. "PICK up the pizza crust right now." he hissed.

AJ walked up, did what he was told, and stepped back in line.

"Ok. Any objections?" asked Sting.

"No, sir." the boys shook their heads.

He looked them all down again and nodded. "All right, then."

* * *

><p>Later that day, Sting carried a box full of the tainted Robitussin and placed it into the trunk of his car, before driving off of the school grounds, giving a little wave to the guard as he left. Inside, it was lunchtime. AJ and Kaz were on line when AJ snatched some food off of another kid's plate.<p>

"And how is today's surprise lunch?" asked Kaz.

Styles tasted it and then made a face. "Bleh!" he scoffed while his friend laughed along.

Outside, though, a delivery truck entered the campus and stopped at the front gate where the guard stopped them. "License, please?"

The driver was revealed to be none other than Dodge, with Hugo sitting in the passenger's seat. "Afternoon, officer." Dodge smirked. "I don't want to have to hurt you, but..." he began, slipping out his gun.

The officer reached for his, but it was too late as Dodge shot him clear in the chest, killing him instantly.

Hugo smirked in triumph, while Dodge drove the truck closer and closer to the school. Only time could tell what was going to happen next.

Inside, the lunch guy handed AJ a tray and Styles gave him a disapproving look, but before anyone could say a word, they all heard the faint sound of gunshots from another room.

Confused, AJ and Kaz looked at one another, and at another table, Jeff, Alex, and Chris all did the same. Right then and there, Dodge entered the building, (with Hugo behind him) scornfully scanned the large cafeteria and everyone in it, before loading up his machine gun and firing it towards the ceiling multiple times.

Screams pierced the room as everyone immediately ducked under tables or whatever they could find. AJ and Kaz slid down and hid by the lunch line.

"Everyone remain calm, shut up, and nobody will get hurt." Dodge was heard saying. Meanwhile, one of the students who was by the door, managed to escape the cafeteria and run to the nearest phone booth, but before he could call 911, he heard a voice call, "HEY!"

The boy whipped around and ducked just in time when a round of bullets shattered the glass and destroyed the phone, courtesy of one of Hugo's gunmen. "Get down!" Hugo commanded to the boy, but then one of the other teachers ran in to try and stop them, when the gunman clocked him unconscious with his gun. For good measure, Hugo shot him down, killing him next. After that, the gunman chased the boy away, and then shot at the remaining phones to ensure that they wouldn't be working anymore, either.

In the meantime, more of Hugo's men were busy rigging the school with explosives, inside and out, by wrapping orange wires all over every inch of the building. By the watchtower, two more guys were setting up a HUGE machine gun over by the window, while somewhere else, Dodge found the map of the school and was studying it to make sure that he and the guys would control every aspect of the building. He also found some important wires and began cutting them. In the halls, two more guys were kicking in doors, looking for any more students. They bursted into Kaz and AJ's room, but found no sign of them.

In the cafeteria, the boys were all sitting by the lunch line, on the ground, as another one of the guards was holding a picture of Austin Aries for some reason, and comparing it to each one of the boys to see if Austin was really there. AJ glanced towards Kaz when he did the same. "They're looking for Aries." Styles whispered.

But little did he or anyone know, Austin was there the entire time, with an entirely different look. He had shaved off his goatee, and had dyed his hair a dark shade of blonde. The guards didn't recognize him at all, but just how long would Aries keep up this ruse, and most importantly, why the hell was he back?


	4. Chapter 4

**_AN: Thanks to everyone for their reviews on the last chapter! _  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

In another room, Hugo and the gunmen were talking to Eric Bischoff in his office...

"Look, threaten me all you please, but the judge's son Austin Aries is not here! He's been removed to a military base and we have no idea where he is." he told Hugo, who was sitting at his desk.

"Look, I have been under a lot of stress lately, and my patience is running dangerously low. If I find that you're lying to me, you WILL be on my list to die." Hugo announced, as Dodge arrived back in the room.

"He's not here!" cried Eric.

Dodge handed him an important folder, and Hugo looked it over. "It appears that you are telling the truth. Keep on telling me the truth, and I won't bother you again." he said.

"Please, just leave the boys out of this. They did nothing to you." Eric pleaded.

"We will see." Hugo muttered, nodding as a signal for his guard to take Eric away.

Soon after that, Hugo looked at some more paperwork and slammed his fist on the desk. "How the hell could this happen? This information was EXPENSIVE!" he shouted.

"Boss, don't worry, we might not have a problem over here. Check out these profiles." Dodge said, spreading out five folders with pictures of AJ, Kaz, Jeff, Chris, and Alex on each of them.

* * *

><p>Later, back in the cafeteria...<p>

"Alex Shelley?" called Hugo, pacing around the room.

He was too afraid to really respond.

"ALEX!" he shouted.

"Uh, y-yeah, I'm here." he uttered, stepping forward.

Hugo eyed him down and then looked at Alex's profile that Dodge had given him. "It says here that your father is president of the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino." he said.

He nodded. "Yes, sir."

The terrorist glared at him again before moving on. "Chris Sabin?" he called.

Also nervous, he quickly stepped forward. "Yes, sir?" he asked timidly.

"Your father is the chairman of the First National Bank?" he asked.

He nodded. "Yes, sir."

He raised an eyebrow, impressed. "He is also a member of the Republican party. Hmm." As he moved on, Chris sighed in relief and sped back to stand beside Alex.

"Jeff? Jeff Hardy?" he called.

"Yes?" he asked, for the first time in his life totally terrified.

"Come here, Jeff."

He approached the terrorist.

"It says here that your father is the chairman of the BB&T Corporation. Is this true?"

He nodded. "Yes, sir."

Next, he called, "Jake Stone?"

Most of the boys looked puzzled, as they've never heard that name before.

"Here." Jake, which was really Austin's alias name, said, stepping up.

AJ had to take a close look at him before realizing who he really was. "...Oh, my God." he whispered, shocked.

"Your father is Thomas Stone of New York City?" Hugo asked him.

He nodded. "Yes." he said in a hoarse whisper.

"THE Thomas Stone?"

Austin paused, looking down at the ground, but was reeling on the inside.

"What's the matter? Not proud of your father?" asked Hugo.

His lower lip stiffened. "No."

The terrorist scoffed before calling next, "Frankie Kazarian?"

"I'm here, sir." he said nervously, stepping up.

"Your father is joint owner of a law firm, correct?"

"Yes, sir." he nodded.

"And vice president of the California Bankers Association?"

He nodded again. "Yes, sir."

"Kazarian, what an unusual name. Are you by any chance, of Armenian descent?" he asked.

"Armenian-American." he corrected him.

Hugo scoffed, smirked a little, and then asked, "Do you speak Armenian?"

"Uh..n-no, sir." he shook his head.

After that, he suspiciously eyed him down and then turned to Dodge. Turns out that Hugo knew a little Armenian, too. He said, "Nkarel nran.", which translated to, "Kill him."

"No! Wait, wait!" Kaz exclaimed, understanding what he said.

Hugo turned to him. "Wait, what? You don't speak Armenian."

"Sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I-I do speak a little Armenian."

The terrorist leader nodded for a second, before grabbing one of the guns from one of the other gunmen. The other boys backed away while Kaz looked confused. Then, before he had time to react, Hugo rammed the end of the gun square into Kaz's left kneecap.

"AAH!" he cried in pain, collapsing to the ground and holding his knee.

"Kaz!" Alex and Chris, (who were nearest to him) cried, rushing to help him.

"NO, STOP! Leave him alone!" AJ snapped, lunging ahead, but Dodge held him back.

Hugo approached AJ. "Is he a friend of yours?" he asked.

"He's my best friend." he nodded.

"Well, when you get a chance, tell him how lucky he is that he didn't get shot." the Cuban replied. "What's your name?"

"AJ Styles."

"Styles, eh? What does your father do?"

"He's a landscaper." he shrugged.

Dodge handed Hugo AJ's profile folder. He looked through it. "Says that your father is Allen Styles, Sr. Owner of the Valleycrest Landscaping Corporation. The third largest maintenance company in the world."

"Yeah, like I said, he's a landscaper." Styles repeated.

Hugo was not amused, and stepped about 4 inches from the teenager. "You're not afraid? Hmm?"

"Yes, I'm afraid." he said, not able to look him in the eye.

"Good. A little word of advice - Don't fuck with me." he finished scornfully, shoving him back in line. He just happened to stop next to Austin.

"Close call there, Styles." he whispered, not looking at him.

"What the hell are you doing back here, Aries?" he whispered back. "You were home free, guaranteed safety, and you come back to this?"

"Ok, first of all, don't you dare say my real name. If I get caught by those goons, I'm finished." Aries replied.

"You never answered my question. Why are you back here?" AJ asked.

He didn't answer, when Hugo spoke again: "You're right, Dodge. We don't need Aries. We could have ourselves a bit of fun with these kids instead."

* * *

><p>A few miles from the school, an officer was pissed that his car was vandalized with the word 'REJECTS' sprayed on the side of it. He was speaking to Sting, who just happened to still be carrying the spiked Robitussin bottles. "Listen, those little punk kids of yours vandalized my car AGAIN! This is the fourth time this week! If any of those snot nosed brats come anywhere near my property again, I'll arrest em myself!"<p>

"Uh yeah, I don't think so. Why don't cha take a look in my little box here and tell me what you see." Sting replied.

"...Robitussin bottles, so what?"

"No, they're NOT Robitussin bottles. They're Robitussin bottles spiked with 100 proof Cognac. One of my students just happened to be in possession of the stuff, and uh...wait! Doesn't your father own a liquor store right down the street?" he asked back.

The officer shifted nervously. "Yeah."

"So how about we make ourselves a negotiation. I won't have you chewed out for having a family liquor business not far from a school, if you don't arrest my kids. Understand?" he smirked.

The officer was about to reply when another one sped towards them yelling, "We need help here, a guard's been shot and killed outside of the Rockmore school!"

Sting's eyes widened and the first officer said, "Hop in, let's go."

Soon enough, they made it back on campus in a matter of minutes, and Sting sped out to see a body lying under a white sheet on the grass. He unveiled it to reveal the guard who Dodge had shot earlier. "Damn." he whispered. "When the hell did this happen?"

"Around an hour and a half ago." replied another officer. "We tried seeing who did it, but every time we try to go past the gates, a few gunmen end up shooting at us."

The first officer said to the other cops, "Ok, you two get your shotguns, hide back there and don't let yourselves be seen."

"Wait, wait." stopped Sting. "You can't depend on these guys, we're dealing with a loose murderer roaming around here! We need to get the State police or the FBI here."

"Don't TELL me what to do." the cop said sternly, glaring at him as he headed off.

"Fine, then I'll have to call them myself." Sting replied, heading over to a phone booth. Only, there was no dial tone, courtesy of Dodge cutting all the cables earlier.

The officer called from a megaphone, "Now hear this up at the school! This is the County sheriff!"

Sting sighed and rolled his eyes, even more pissed off.

"I'm approaching the campus to talk to you." he continued, stepping in his car. Inside, Dodge and Hugo were by a window with their guns ready. Meanwhile the car slowly drove inside with the officer continuing, "I'm unarmed, just let me in so that we can make a negotiation!"

Seeing this, Hugo said a command in Cuban in a walkie talkie, and right after that, a couple of guards aimed their huge machine gun from on top of the watchtower towards the guard and his car. Bullets fired and shattered the car's glass, flattened the tires, and it was destroyed in a matter of seconds. After that, the three officers rolled out of the car and ducked down, avoiding any more shots.

Shocked to see this all going down, Sting hid in the phone booth. Hugo commanded something else to one of his men, and soon enough, they whipped out their newest weapon, a Mk 19 grenade launcher. Sting ran to hide behind a brick wall, and his eyes widened upon seeing the new weapon. The gunmen had no remorse when they fired the grenade which flew over 10 ft down and landed on the abandoned police car, followed by a HUGE explosion. It was a guarantee that the fleeting cops were already dead.

The force of the explosion made the ground shake, and Sting braced for impact. Things were getting worse and they were getting worse fast.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

That night, the FBI and some American troops armed and ready stormed onto the campus, along with a few other cars. A man in a suit named Otis approached a couple of other men. They shook hands and shared casualties before Otis asked, "I've been briefed on the plane. What's your assessment?"

"Sir, we have an unknown number of terrorists armed with 50 caliber machine guns and anti-tanker rockets." one of the other men said, showing him a map of the school. "There's about three miles of perimeter around the campus and their weapons can destroy the whole area. We've got to get assistance from the Military."

"It'll get done." Otis said. "So, no communication from the school at all?"

"None."

Inside...

Hugo was inside of one of the offices, jotting down some numbers read by someone on a radio in Spanish. In the meantime, Dodge and some more of the gunmen were rigging the place with some more wires.

"My father's doing well." announced Hugo. "He's sick of being in prison, though. He's ready to go home."

Outside...

Helicopters and tanker trucks arrived on campus, with hoards of Military troops spreading out all over the field. Otis shook hands with the leader of the pack. "General Stevenson, glad you could make it."

"We got here as soon as we could, Otis. I have troops taking out all corners of the school, but all I am ordered to do is to assist you with observation and surveillance, and keep communications established with your people. That's it, Otis! Anything else would require specific orders from the President."

"I understand. I just hope we never need to ask." replied Otis.

Inside...

Hugo and Dodge were still hooking up some wires to a device, while Hugo checked on this watch-looking device he wore on his wrist. "Is it on?" he asked.

Dodge turned on a switch on the box-like device, where a button on it glowed red. A button on the device that Hugo wore on his wrist also lit up red.

"It is now." Dodge replied.

Meanwhile, AJ was still stuck in the kitchen, scraping some vomit-looking food from out of a large pan. He was VERY unhappy.

"Man, this bites. This crap looks like freaking turd stew, and they're trying to force this stuff down our throats?" he muttered, tossing some other pans aside. "This is pure B.S! This school's being taken over by psycho terrorists and where am I? Stuck here slaving over the goddamned dishes on kitchen duty, that's where!" he continued sarcastically, washing his hands. Before anything else happened, though, one of the gunmen bursted in the room and said, "Everyone, out of the room and into the cafeteria, now. He wants a word with you all." he told AJ and the other two men that worked in the kitchen. Styles had a confused look on his face before heading out.

A few moments later, Hugo was talking to the boys. "Anyone who leaves this building will be shot. We will take the head count now, and once again in the morning. If one person is missing, five of you will be executed. If two are missing, ten will be shot, and so on. Tomorrow, we will do a head count on the hour, EVERY hour. If all goes fine, you will all be allowed out onto the quad, to continue on with your daily activities. But, every hour ON the hour, you must be in this room to be accounted for. Is that understood?"

The boys were dead silent, and nodded.

"Second, you may have noticed these wires running through and outside of the building. Well, these are wired to explosives. If any of these wires are cut, the explosives will go off automatically." he continued, as Dodge continued pacing the room, glancing at everyone with his gun in hand. "If any of the individual explosives are tampered with, they will _**EXPLODE**!" _he screamed, startling everyone. He calmed down. "So, don't touch the wires. Don't touch the explosives."

Next, he and Dodge approached the table where Austin (aka Jake), AJ, Jeff, Kaz, Chris, and Alex were all sitting.

"92." Dodge whispered to Hugo, after he had counted the amount of boys there.

* * *

><p>That night, the boys were sent back to their dorm rooms, with another gunman shoving piles of them in rooms that weren't even their own. Fortunately for the group of friends (and Austin), they were piled in the same dorm together, along with another boy.<p>

"Well, men, at least we all managed to stick together!" announced Alex.

"Yeah, that's my goal in life - to die with you guys." Chris said sarcastically, looking around the room. "Whose room is this, anyway?"

"Mine and uh...what's your name again?" Austin asked the seventh kid.

He glared at him. "I told you. I'm Rob Van Dam." he replied.

"Whoa, is that a XJ7 jet replica?" Chris asked, seeing a plane-like device on a dresser.

"Yeah, I got it online! This thing can fly 50 mph, all with the use of a remote." Rob replied, smiling.

"Nice!" Sabin cried. "Is this powered with a quantum HG chip?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, nerds in love. Listen, Rob, Chris is MY best friend, so whatever you tell him, you tell me. Now, scoot over." he said, sitting on the edge of the bed with them.

Jeff looked under a bed and found a Playboy magazine. "Jackpot." he grinned wickedly. "Mind if I borrow this for the night?"

"Is that Mandy chick in it?" Kaz asked, looking over the magazine.

Meanwhile, while the guys were all chatting and conversing, AJ still glared towards Austin while he turned his attention back to him. "Is there a problem, Styles?"

He approached him and said quietly, "You still never answered my damn question from earlier, _Jake_." he mocked. "How, and why the hell are you back over here?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you." he said, frowning.

"Well, we're all in this situation because of you, AUSTIN, so you better speak before I just happen to tell the guards out there that the kid that they're all looking for is right in here." AJ announced. When he said Austin's name, the other boys froze and looked at him.

Jeff took a closer look at him. "Aries? Why the hell are you still here?"

"Yeah, and talk about an extreme makeover, you look like a completely different dude!" added Alex.

"And how'd you get back here if you were supposed to be at a Military base somewhere?" agreed Chris.

He sighed and then turned to glare towards AJ for exposing his secret. "You all want to know? Then fine. But you all need to promise on your _lives_ that you won't tell a soul about what I'm about to tell you." Aries announced.

The boys huddled together and nodded.

"Ok. Now I already knew about the situation between the lead terrorist, his father, and my father before Sting and those guys even told me. The day that I 'left', yeah, they were taking me to the military base, but halfway there, I managed to escape the car and find my way back over here without getting caught." he explained.

"But why do you look so different?" asked Kaz.

He raised an eyebrow, as if the answer were obvious. "Well, how else could I run around here without getting caught if I didn't give myself a makeover? Gave myself a little shave, a new hairdo, a new name and I'm just another one of you guys." he continued.

"I still don't get it, Aries, WHY did you decide to come back here?" asked AJ.

"Look. Truthfully, I just don't want a damn thing to do with my deadbeat father. He didn't give a shit about my safety back when I was 5, why would he do the same now?" he asked scornfully.

The boys were quiet.

"Plus, and I hate to admit it, but...this place IS my home. As much as I can't stand you guys and I'll live to outsmart you all, you're the only family I got." he continued.

"Wow, that was...deep of you, dude." Jeff announced, shocked.

"So uh, does this mean that we're supposed to like each other now or something?" asked Alex.

"Oh no, I still hate you guys like you hate me. But I respect you." he turned to AJ. "Even you, Styles."

He slowly nodded. "I really don't know how to respond to that, man. I mean, you've done some pretty low things to me in the past that I'll probably never forgive you for. So how the hell am I supposed to trust you now?" he asked.

"Don't you think you should give me a _little_ bit of credit for trusting you all with a secret that could end up getting us ALL killed?" Austin asked back. "You've got some nerve, Styles!"

"Look, Aries, you're a snake! You always have been and you always will be." he argued back.

He breathed heavily and shook his head in reply.

"You shouldn't have come back. Now because of you, we have an even greater chance of not making it out here alive." AJ finished, turning away. Kaz approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Look, man. The guards don't suspect a thing now, and as long as we keep things on the down low, we should be fine." he said convincingly.

"I don't know, Frankie. It's way too soon to tell what could happen yet." Styles replied.

"So, Aries, since you know so much about this, do you know if the leader out there's holding a ransom for our freedom or something like that?" asked Chris.

"Not sure, but I DO know that this guy's dangerous, so he'll keep us here as his little pawns until he gets whatever he wants." he replied. "At whatever cost."

Then, there was another uncomfortable silence in the room.

"Guys, we have got to do something about this before someone ends up getting hurt." Jeff spoke up. "AJ, any plans in mind?"

Styles looked towards Aries again and frowned. "I'm sure the light bulb in my head will go off sooner or later. I need to sleep this day off, first of all." he replied.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Meanwhile, Sting and a few other important guys were in a secret hideout a somewhat long distance away from the school, trying to find a way to get info on the terrorists or to find out if everyone inside was all right.

"This is deputy FBI assistant Otis Walsh." the suited man said on his cell. "Who am I speaking to?"

_"Uh, it's-it's me, Headmaster Eric Bischoff. Now, the boys are fine, alive and well, just somewhat frightened. Then again, who wouldn't be?"_ he called on the other line. Inside, he was at his desk with Hugo hovering over him.

"Tell him about the explosives." he muttered.

Eric was terrified as hell, too. Who wouldn't be? "Right. Uh, there are explosives all over the campus, and if the wires are cut, they'll blow up." he said on the phone. Then, Hugo pointed to his wrist. "And he has a remote control device attached to his wrist, and he says that he could blow the whole school up with the push of a button."

Hugo snatched the phone from him. "It is true, and I will NOT hesitate. If you attack this school, students will begin getting shot at once, and we won't stop until you stop."

Back outside, Sting and the other men were intently listening in on the conversation.

"But if by some miracle you end up killing all my men, I will still have plenty of time to press the button. And every one of us will die." he said surely.

Outside, Sting frowned and lowered his phone from his ear, deep in thought. He then turned to General Stevenson, while Hugo continued. _"I am going to release faculty, and one of them will be carrying a complete list of my demands. These are non-negotiable. If you do not produce my father, UNHARMED, I will begin executing the hostages._ _I am sure you know by now that I know these students very well, and who their parents are. "_

Outside, Sting, Otis, and General Stevenson approached the Rockmore front sign which was spray painted with the word 'REJECTS' on top of the word Rockmore.

"Rejects." read Otis. "I assume the students did this."

"Yeah. Over half of the boys here have been expelled from other schools, and apparantly Rejects is what they call themselves by." replied Sting.

Otis nodded. "I see."

"No, you don't. Y'see, my boys have some kind of vendetta against authority figures. Part of the reason why they ended up here. With these gunmen running around, I'm just afraid that one of them will do something stupid that they won't be able to get themselves out of." the Dean replied.

"That could damn well get em killed." nodded the General.

"Sure enough. And there's one boy out of all of em, the leader of the pack." he sighed, thinking about AJ. "Oh, someone's coming."

Then, from a distance, they saw the front door open, followed by a group of teachers and faculty bringing a body out.

"It's a body." Otis said, handing the binoculars to Sting.

"Damn. I think it's Davy Miller, the chemistry teacher." he sighed. "Do you think it's true? About detonating the explosives and getting he and everyone inside killed?"

"At this rate, who knows what he's going to do next." replied Otis. "He'll be willing to do anything to get his father back."

* * *

><p>Inside of the dorm, the boys were sound asleep, except for AJ, who was sitting in a swivel chair and staring out of the window, deep in thought.<p>

Since it was such a crowded room, Alex and Chris were forced to share one bed together, with Chris under the covers and Alex sleeping horizontally on top, Austin managed to sleep in his own bed, and Rob, Jeff, and Kaz were all sleeping in sleeping bags on the cold, unforgiving floor. AJ got up and headed towards the window, where Austin said, "Couldn't get any shuteye, huh?"

"What does it matter to you?" he muttered back.

He got up and joined him by the window. "Hey, I can't get any sleep either, so I might as well hang around and try and make pleasant conversation with you." he smirked.

Styles scoffed. "Oh, please. I don't have time for your wise-ass remarks right now."

He stared right at him, shaking his head. "What is your deal, Styles? Are you going to spend the rest of your free time here bagging on me while we have bigger problems to deal with?" he demanded.

"You want to know what my deal is? I hated you, Aries, I HATED you after what you did." AJ said, pissed and pointing a finger at him. "We used to be the best of friends back in high school, until you framed me and got me kicked out for something that I didn't even do."

"I didn't have any other choice, Styles. You were ALWAYS getting whatever I always wanted, whether it be awards, trophies, praise, you name it. You even got that damn scholarship to the school that I wanted to go to!"

"But that gave you no excuse for you to tell em the LIE that I tried to bring a gun to school that day. I loved that place, and after I got kicked out of there, I hated everywhere else my folks tried to put me in, so once I come here, I make myself at home. But one day, I'm walking down the halls and I see your face and I'm good and ready to wring your fucking neck right there in front of everyone." Styles snapped back. "I didn't ever want to see you again."

"Well how the hell do you think I felt when I ran into you of all people again, Styles? All those memories of you getting everything I wanted came flooding back, and all I could remember was how nobody had ever said anything supportive to me in my entire life. You had everything, Styles. I envied the hell out of you." Austin explained, slowly shaking his head.

AJ was quiet for a moment. "I didn't know that." he said after a pause.

"That's right, you didn't know. So before you say anything to me again, how about you just don't?"

He sighed. "Aries, look. I don't like you, but I don't hate you as much as I used to. But I do respect you for having the guts to come back here and risk your life with us." he replied genuinely.

"And...I...I respect you for respecting me." he replied.

Styles smirked.

"And at least I have some sense of humor around here, unlike you! I'm trying to see the best in this situation, instead of hiding under the covers, cowering in fear like Sabin over there!" he whispered sharply.

"...Am not..." Chris mumbled. "Aw, great, you woke me up!"

He accidentally kicked Alex off of the bed when he was stretching.

"Ow!" Shelley cried, on the floor. "That wasn't nice, dillweed."

Soon enough, the others woke up, too.

"Great, thanks for waking us all up, guys." Kaz muttered. "Sleep was the only thing keeping my mind off of the guards practically holding our lives in the palms of their hands."

"Well, while we're all up, we might as well try and do something!" exclaimed Austin. "I don't want to be treated like their little leader's bitch! There's gotta be something, and we WILL do something sooner or later."

"How about we shine the mirrors towards the window to somebody out there as, y'know, morse code or something." suggested Jeff.

Alex threw a pillow at him. "Dude, nobody does morse code anymore, that was SO 1989!" he cried.

"Well, hell!" Jeff snapped, sitting up and immediately grabbing another cigarette. "Well, look on the bright side. We have enough people in here for a nice, rousing game of spin the bottle."

Kaz snatched the cigarette away from him. "Dude, you know that there's no smoking allowed in here!"

"Oh, please, what the hell are they going to do, kick me out?" Hardy asked back.

"Guys, guys, shut up for a sec." Austin said, approaching the door. He peeked outside to see a guard waiting out in the hall.

He turned to him and cried in a heavy Spanish accent, "GET TO SLEEP!"

Aries quickly closed the door.

"Well?" asked Rob.

"There's one of them down the hall. Guys, listen to me. He was sitting there by HIMSELF, with his only weapon being a machine gun."

"Where are you getting at, dude?" asked Alex.

"Just think about it! There are what, seven of us in here and only one of him? I say we go out there and jump him. Attack him at once. With that machine gun of his, he can't kill us all at once, y'know? So either way, we still win." he said with a devilish smile. "What do you think?"

"I think you've been sniffing too many sharpies, man, cause that's just plain nuts." Chris chuckled. "We're just a bunch of kids, defeating a grown man with a weapon is ludicrous."

"Well, I don't hear any bright ideas from you guys!" he snapped back.

"Jeez, dude, you know so much about machine guns, huh?" asked Jeff. "Aren't you a little too young to get involved in the mafia like your father used to be?"

This sent Aries over the edge. "You son of a BITCH!" he snapped, throwing a punch across his face, and was about to pummel him even more, but the guys held him back while Jeff curled up into a little ball on the bed.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" AJ yelled.

"Dude, get up." Kaz said, pulling up Jeff.

"Shit, man, it was just a joke! Lighten the hell up, would ya?" he demanded, pissed. "We're supposed to be cool here, I can call you a fucking lightweight if I want to!"

"Shh, just be quiet, all right?" Kaz said calmly.

Rob just stayed in his corner. "Crazy dudes in here..." he muttered.

"Ok, we have bigger problems to worry about, so Jeff, Austin, make nice, goddamn it!" Alex cried, patting them both on the backs.

They both looked at one another before breaking out in smirks.

"You're still a complete jerkoff." Austin chuckled.

"And you're still an ass." Jeff chuckled back. Soon after that, and for about the first time ever, the two shared a manly hug.

AJ still wasn't too trusting towards Austin, but in this case, he pretty much had to tolerate him. "Ok, now that that's done with, Aries, enough talk about guns, all right?"

He nodded. "Fine, mother." he said sarcastically. "So you have any bright ideas we should use?"

Styles paused for a moment. "Yeah. Actually I do." he nodded.

"Oh, God..." the rest of the boys sighed in unison.

"No, no, listen! What we really have to do is somehow get information on these guys holding us up. Y'know, how many of them there are, what weapons they're carrying, that stuff. And when we find out all this info, we find a way to get the info to the troops, so that way, they'll find their way in here and save us!" he exclaimed. "Whaddya think?"

"Ok, that sounds like a - how should I put it?...Totally impossible job for a bunch of rejects like us." Chris nodded.

"Yeah, there's no way we'll be able to do that without getting killed!" agreed Alex.

"I'll handle that stuff, don't you worry. But I'll still need your help on the way. So, are you in?" asked Styles.

The boys looked towards one another. "Dude, you're insane...but we wouldn't know you any other way. We're in." Kaz smiled, sharing a manly handshake with his best friend.

Austin spoke up and said, "Well, Styles, this will be the first AND last time I will ever follow any plan of yours. But I'm in, too. And if we end up getting shot, YOU are so finished."

He stuck out his hand, and after a pause, AJ obliged and took his hand in a tight grip, shaking it. Progress was going to be made.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The next morning, news of the hostage crisis had caught the town - and the country - by storm as the area by the campus was filled with news reporters and more cop cars. Another military helicopter flew over their heads and landed in a wooded area a good distance away from the school. On campus, it seemed to be a regular day for the boys as they went on with their daily activities. Hugo, Dodge, and the guards' job was to monitor the boys to make sure that they wouldn't go and do anything stupid.

Under a lemon tree, Eric Bischoff was trying to teach his group of kids. "Ok, boys, now this is called 'Lord of the Flies'. For those of you that don't know, this is what's called a BOOK. You may or may not have heard of one." he announced with a smirk.

Some of the boys couldn't concentrate while one of the guards was pacing back and forth behind them.

"Hey, hey boys, eyes up here, I'm the good guy here, all right?" he asked. "No worries, guys, they won't do anything. Sooner or later, they'll be out of our lives forever. Now, back to the book. This book right here, will be beneficial for the rest of your lives. I guarantee it." he smiled.

Kaz, Jeff, and Alex were standing by a set of wires outside by a wall, but when a guard walked past, they nonchalantly stood there, whistling without a care in the world. When he left, Alex said, "K, let's go."

Meanwhile, AJ and Austin approached Robert Roode, who was doing some sit ups on the grass.

"Roode, just answer us these simple questions and don't give us any lip about it, ok?" Styles asked.

"What's going on?"

"Ok, have you seen any guards stationed anywhere in the hall of your dorm room?" he asked.

"Hmm...come to think of it, yeah, I saw two of em, I think." Roode replied.

"Where exactly?" asked AJ.

"In the infirmary, I remember after I had to bring them their breakfast."

Austin jotted these facts down in a notebook while AJ continued, "Ok, what kind of stuff did they have?"

He continued doing his sit ups. "What stuff?"

"Stuff! You know, weapons, guns of any kind. What kind did they carry?" asked Styles.

"Uh...a few .50 caliber M2's, a few assault rifles...dude, I'm not getting in trouble for telling you any of this, am I?"

"Oh, shut up and stop being such a wuss. Now keep on spilling what you know." Styles continued while Austin eagerly wrote down every golden fact of information. Operation Freedom was all going according to plan...so far.

* * *

><p>Somewhere else, angry parents and townspeople were having a meeting, with Otis and Sting sitting at the head of the building.<p>

One guy stood up, yelling, "Why don't you just send your troops in there and SHOOT the sons of bitches?"

Another woman leapt up and yelled in reply, "You are crazy! Just...SHUT UP!"

Sting and Otis slowly turned to look at one another.

"Did you realize that the head of the New Jersey mafia is here in this room?" asked Otis.

Sting nodded. "I see."

"Knowing that, you let him send his son to your school." he continued.

"Sure. It's not the kid's fault who his father is." the Dean replied.

"...Why don't you just give the guy what he wants?" a woman asked.

Otis stood up. "In the first place, the FBI has no such policy. But beyond that, your sons haven't been kidnapped. They're being held hostage by a gang of terrorists! And as you know, it's United States policy..."

In the back of the room through the murmuring crowd, the mafia boss, Joseph Aries, also known as Austin Aries own father and the self proclaimed 'judge' in Hugo's father's case was there sipping on his drink. He didn't look too pleased at all.

"...not to give in to terrorists' demands." finished Otis.

Another guy cried, "Well, that policy is gonna have to CHANGE! We'll go and tell the white house if we have to!"

A different woman stood up and cried, "Well my family ISN'T rich! We don't have influence at the white house. My son is on a full scholarship to the school."

A fourth guy cried, "So is MY son!"

"We should talk to the press!" the same woman replied again. "Why should our kids suffer alongside the rich kids?"

Then, there was a huge murmur of disagreement among the room, when Otis and Sting stood up. Otis said, "Now, there will be NO trips to the White House! And certainly, nobody should talk to the press!"

Sting spoke up, "Now look, I know how stressful this is on you all, but listen to yourselves! You're potentially putting your sons in an even greater risk! So please take my word on this. Let the professionals handle this."

* * *

><p><em>*DONG...DONG...DONG*<em>

Back at the school, it was noon and the boys headed back inside. Soon after, they all lined up in the cafeteria so that Dodge could count them all.

"85...86...87...88...89...90...91...92." he finished. Then, he nodded towards Eric Bischoff in approval.

"Ok, boys, you can head back out now and enjoy the rest of this wonderful day." he smiled.

In another office, Hugo was watching a news conference at the White House about what was currently going on at the school. Dodge joined him. "Every head is counted for."

He held up a hand to silence him for a moment.

The woman on TV was saying, _"This administration has never wavered from a policy that the United States must NEVER give in to the demands of terrorists. To do so would only encourage more hostage taking."_

Hugo scoffed. "We will see about that."

A little later, the boys were back in the cafeteria for lunch...

AJ was carrying a tray with two sandwiches and some chips. Austin was with him, saying, "Styles, you sure about this?"

"Yeah yeah, I'll be fine. You probably wouldn't even have the balls to do this, anyway." he smirked.

"Are you kidding me? I have bigger balls than YOU will ever have!" Aries argued.

"...You're a freak, Aries."

He couldn't help but to chuckle. "Look, just watch yourself up there, all right?"

"Don't worry, I'll come back in one piece." he said, heading off when a guard stopped him. "I'm supposed to send lunch to two of the guards?"

The guard nodded.

Soon after that, AJ headed up a few sets of stairs towards the watchtower, but paused for a moment. He set the tray down, lifted up the top loaf of bread on each sandwich, and spat in each of them, before placing the loafs back on. He chuckled slyly. Moments later, he arrived to where the two gunmen caught him, with their hands on their guns.

"Uh, I was sent here to bring you your lunch."

The first gunman took the tray, and while they were temporarily distracted, Styles took the opportunity to scan the room, seeing all the different types of weapons that they owned. Internally, he was smiling at this. While one of the guards took a bite out of the sandwich, he smiled and said, "Enjoy!...Fuckers." he muttered quietly before heading off.

Outside, Austin was sketching a picture of one of the terrorists, with Jeff sitting next to him and smoking another cigarette. When a guard walked by them, Aries turned the page of his book so that he wouldn't reveal the sketch. The guard shrugged and walked away, with Jeff coughing and hacking over the cigarette. He smirked and spat towards the same guard, eliciting a chuckle from Austin.

Later...

"Ok, we have two guards in the watchtower, two more in the 5th floor hall, two in the infirmary, and two more in the west hall, making a total of eight so far." Chris announced, pinpointing the locations on a picture of the school, where AJ and the boys watched on.

"All right, there were three in the quad, so that makes eleven, and there was also one in the office, so that's twelve." added AJ.

"I overheard some things, too. The lead guy's name is Hugo Chavez. There were three other guards named Rico, Buster, and Giuseppe." Kazarian pointed out.

"Oh, don't forget the dude with the glasses." added Alex.

Austin looked through his sketchbook. "Oh, I got a good glimpse of him, don't you worry." he replied, nodding once he looked at his very accurate sketches of Dodge, and Hugo for good measure.

"Wow, I never knew you were an artist." Shelley said, impressed.

Jeff looked along, also impressed. "Seriously, dude. Looks like you're more than just a big mouth."

"Well, I just happen to be a man of many talents." Aries said confidently. "Be jealous."

AJ rolled his eyes, and he couldn't help but to smirk a little. Maybe he could finally get used to his enemy this time around.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, somewhere near a motel, a car pulled up in the parking lot, and a man opened the back door for Joseph Aries, the real name of Austin's mafia father, to get out. He shook hands with another suited man and told him, "The FBI's crawling all over me lately. You've seen the news?"<p>

The other man nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Guliano Chavez, the old guy who's in prison, well he's been around, we've done business with him before. And I know the Barrs brothers are in there with him, they're very big." he continued.

"Yeah, so is Vito DeSimone and his boy Ricky." the other guy replied.

"Good. I want you to reach out to them, fast. Tell them to get to Chavez, and explain about my son." Joseph said with a gleam in the eye.

"Will do, it'll be done in no time." the other man nodded.

Mr. Aries sighed. "Austin hates me."

"Hey, come on, man. Kids, they go through a stage. He's just a teenager! It's just a phase."

He shook his head. "No, with Austin, it's different. He really hates my guts." he said, solemn. "But hell, there's nothing that I can do. I still love him. Now, I don't know how the hell he escaped the military hideout and got back to the school, but now...I want him outta there. Have it done."

His buddy nodded. "You got it, boss."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

That night, back at the school...

The boys were in their room, planning their next move.

"Ok, so this piece here is the encryptor chip which controls the movement of the plane." Rob said, showing the boys the interior of his replica plane. "Now do any of you happen to know how the device on Hugo's wrist works?"

"This just may be a wild guess, but it's possible that it has some kind of chip that powers it, too." replied Chris. "Wait, I see where you're going with this. Maybe in some way, we could replace the chip in the plane with the chip in the device on Hugo's wrist!"

AJ nodded. "So that way, we'll end up controlling the detonator and all old Hugo will control is the plane here." he confirmed.

"Exactly!" Sabin agreed, while Austin was sorting out his numerous sketches and placing them into a folder with a picture of the school pinpointed with the locations of the guards.

"Wait, how the hell are we going to be able to do this? The dude has the thing around his WRIST for Christ's sakes!" exclaimed Kaz. "We can't just walk up to him and replace it."

"Good point." Chris nodded slowly.

"Maybe someone could knock him out?" suggested Jeff.

"Trust me, nobody would have the guts to knock the leader out." Alex spoke up. "Either he or his guards would just blow our brains out if any of us tried."

"Maybe." AJ muttered, thinking.

"Dude, why just switch the chips in the first place? Just give em both a good swirlie down the toilet." Jeff suggested again.

"Well guys, we could also work backwards, too." Rob suggested, handing the plane to the guys.

"What 'chu talkin bout, Van Dam?" Alex imitated.

"What I mean, is that if you take the receiving chip out of this plane, then you could replace it with the receiving chip in the detonator." he replied.

"Oh wow, that's really something!" Shelley exclaimed with a sarcastic smile. "Yeah, so all we'd have to do is sneak into Hugo's office, which he only leaves for 2.5 seconds each day, get past the goons, somehow get the detonator off of him and replace that chip with the plane's chip, make it back out without getting shot, and whoop-de-flipping-do, we're heroes! Yay!"

Although Alex was being totally sarcastic, AJ was all business. He nodded. "Yes, Alex, that's exactly what we're gonna do." he replied.

He pouted. "...Crap."

* * *

><p>The next morning in the cafeteria...<p>

"85...86...87...88...89...90...91...92." Dodge counted, and then turned to Eric. "Take em out."

"You guys can go now. I'd like to see the Sophomore class by the bench." Bicshoff announced.

Soon enough, the boys separated themselves from the group and huddled behind a wall. Rob joined the fray, carrying his plane.

"You have exactly 45 minutes to get back here and meet us in this exact spot." Austin instructed, while Kaz slid the folder of information in the seat of AJ's jeans. Yeah, there was no place else he could hide it.

"Just wait till the guards are looking away." added Kaz. "You ready?"

Styles nodded. "It's now or never. Let's get to work."

Jeff, Alex, Chris, and Rob all headed off to play a 'game' of soccer, leaving Kaz, AJ, and Austin alone. They casually stood around, while Kaz peeked up to find one of the guards standing by the front door, scanning the field. When the guard was turned away, AJ ran to an unguarded door, and wrapped a towel around his elbow. He looked back to see Kaz, who nodded in approval. Then, the boys turned to Jeff, who currently had the soccer ball. They nodded towards him next.

AJ was still ready by the door, when Austin had his hand behind his back and signaled with his fingers when it was time for him to run. He held up 2..3..4..5 fingers, and right then and there, Jeff kicked the soccer ball so hard that it crashed through the third story window. The guard immediately turned to see where the noise came from, which gave AJ his cue to speed back inside of the school. He used his towel covered elbow to shatter the door's glass at the same time, and entered the building.

Next, Styles sped through the halls and into a classroom, where he slid out of a window and closed it, but left his towel between there to prevent him from getting locked out. Now outside on the other side of the school, AJ sped onto the field and slid to hide behind a car, where he looked up to see two guards standing over the roof with their guns in tow. He glanced at his watch and then looked back up towards the guys.

Meanwhile, Eric Bischoff's class was outside learning something.

"...So that's why grass does not grow in certain areas of Nevada. Any more questions?" he asked with a smile. Near where they were, Rob, Jeff, Chris, and Alex were all ready to put the next phase of their plan in action with the plane.

Rob got it into position, when Chris stopped him and said, "Hey, Rob, I-I've always wanted to control a remote controlled plane, so can I?" he smiled, twiddling his fingers.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Lifelong dream of yours, huh Sabin?" he said sarcastically.

"Sure. Just listen to my instructions." Rob announced. "Aim the plane over there."

As the plane started, it made a noise in which the guard at the front door looked around to see where it came from.

"And...let it go!" Rob instructed, when Chris launched the plane and then used the remote to make it fly circles around Eric Bicshoff and his class.

"So that's why whales are bloated-what the?" he stopped when he and the students got distracted by the device, which then flew up into the sky.

The boys looked on, impressed by Chris's steering.

"Rock on, Sabin." Jeff nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't know you knew how to rock a plane like that, friend." Alex nodded in agreement.

Chris smiled like a happy 5 year old. "I love this!" he exclaimed.

Inside, Hugo was sipping on some tea in his office when he heard the plane's buzzing from outside. Both he and Dodge rushed to look out of the window, and the two guards standing on the roof looked up to see the plane flying in the sky. The plane circled around a few more times but then Chris couldn't really control it once it quickly headed towards Eric and his students.

The boys backed away.

"Damn it, Chris!" Alex cried.

"Aw, shit." he cursed, trying to get control again.

"And that is why corn is the precedent to-oh, crap." he stopped when he saw the plane headed right for them.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" the boys screamed, running for their lives out of harm's way. Eric crouched down on his bench and shielded his head with his arms.

"Move bitch, get out the way." Jeff announced, chuckling.

The plane zipped through some trees and was back in control again.

"See, guys, the Chrismeister has it all handled." he smirked.

"Show off." Alex muttered.

Back on the roof, the two guards kept on looking for the plane, and when they stepped away, it was AJ's chance to finally speed away towards the forest as fast as his feet could take him. Meanwhile, Dodge and Hugo stepped towards the front door where Dodge said in his walkie talkie, "Stay alert."

The two guards on the roof nodded and turned back around to guard their post.

AJ slid behind some bushes and looked back up towards the school.

Dodge called, "Stop that thing!"

Chris looked towards Jeff, who made a slashing motion towards his throat, signaling that he needed to land the plane.

"Well, there goes my fun." he grumbled, landing the plane. Once he picked it up, one of the other guards snatched it and the remote out of his hands. "Aww!"

Rob was pretty steamed. "And there goes MY plane! That's the last time I let you fly anything of mine!"

Alex sympathetically patted Chris on the back.

Meanwhile, AJ ran even deeper into the forest, where he slid down a small hill and met up with a walk-through storm drain. The Phenomenal One was really prepared for this. He took out a pair of pliers, unlatched the fence blocking the entrance, and maneuvered himself through the dark tunnel, trying to avoid getting wet in the sewer water. Next, he climbed up another small hill and sped through some more woody areas, until two Military troops in camouflage leapt up with their guns and stopped him in his tracks.

"Wait, wait, I'm from the school!" AJ cried, as the troops frisked him and snatched up the folder. "I have all the information you guys need, don't worry, everyone's fine, and love your outfits, but I really gotta go!"

The troops reeled him back. "You're not going anywhere." one of them said.

"But I have to get back, I'm on a schedule!" he argued. "Listen, if I don't make it back to that school, people are going to start dying!"

"You are not going anywhere until we check you out." the second man said, patting him down while AJ rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the operations tent, Sting and General Stevenson were monitoring things.<p>

"Hey, you know a kid by the name of AJ Styles?" asked the General.

"Yeah, yeah, I've been waiting to hear some news. What's going on?" asked Sting.

"Just keep him there." the General said over a phone. "There's a helicopter on the pad outside. If he is one of your boys, go get him and bring him back here." he told Sting.

"Got it." he nodded and headed off.

Back at the school, Bischoff was still attempting to teach his students.

"...And that is why fruit bats cannot survive in moist climates." he smiled.

Meanwhile, Austin and the boys were all back at their meeting place behind the wall. Kaz, Jeff, Chris, Austin, and Alex all checked their watches. But then, Jeff smirked, patted the boys on the backs, and headed off. Time for the next phase of the plan.

First, the Enigma stopped by the cafeteria and grabbed a large tumbler cup with some coffee. Then, he found his way up a few sets of stairs, which led to the roof of the building. He pushed open the top door, where the two guards on the roof whipped around and pointed their guns at him. "Freeze, VATO!" one of them cried.

Jeff raised his arms in surrender. "...This is called, COFFEE." he announced, placing the cup down. It fell over, he stumbled to place it back upright, before quickly leaping down and closing the door after him. Hardy sighed, took a seat on the stairs for a moment, before taking out another cigarette and inhaling. But at that moment, he realized that there was a smoke detector in that small area, and a bright idea popped in his mind.

Jeff took another blow of the cigarette, and then placed the still smoking item in between a match pad. Right then and there, the friction of the cigarette and the match pad caused the whole thing to burst into small flames, and sooner or later, the alarm would be set off. The Enigma smiled wickedly at his own little ruse, before heading off.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, a helicopter landed in an open field, where a soldier let Sting out of the plane. He sped towards the area he was called to go to. Near where he was headed, another soldier was speaking to AJ.<p>

"Look, even if we do know who you are, we cannot let you go back, they'd kill you." he said.

He sighed, frustrated. "That's my issue, but I know that if I go right now, I can make it back before anyone gets hurt!" he cried.

Sting joined them. "AJ!"

"Sting, so glad you're here. Look, you gotta tell em to let me outta here, I'm losing time here!"

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Just talk to them, please!"

"Do you know this kid?" asked the soldier.

"Yes." nodded Sting.

"I need to go back. If one person's missing, five people are going to get shot!" AJ cried.

"If you go back, YOU'RE going to get shot!" the soldier cried.

"Sting, sir, I KNOW I can make it back, I know I can. You've tolerated me for longer than I deserved, and now I have to ask you to trust me on this, please!" Styles exclaimed.

Sting's eyes looked into his and he nodded. "I believe in you, Styles."

"Hey, that will NOT go well with the military and-" the soldier began, but AJ grunted and sped off anyway.

"Let him go!" Sting called to the soldier. AJ sped out of the tent that they were in and hopped into the nearest vehicle there, a military tank. Before the other troops could get to him, AJ swerved around and drove off.

"SOMEBODY STOP THAT KID!" one of them yelled before running the other way and leaping into their own vehicles.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Back at the school, Jeff returned to join his friends by the wall when he smirked and said, "Any second now, boys."

He and Aries shared a manly handshake.

In the area by the staircase, the smoke from the fire initiated the smoke alarm, and it began beeping rapidly. The guards on the roof heard the noise and sped back down in the room, seeing where the noise was coming from.

Outside, the boys heard the alarm and Jeff graciously shook Kaz's, Austin's, Chris's, and Alex's hands in triumph.

Meanwhile, the guards found the alarm, disconnected it, and headed back on the roof.

Out in the field, Super AJ roared through the grassy area in his tanker truck, trying to get the other troops off of his tail.

Back with the boys...

Kaz checked his watch again. "Where IS he?" he muttered.

"He'll get here, man. He'll get here." Austin replied. "He better be, anyway."

In the meantime, AJ was still making his daring escape through the forest with the four tanker trucks right behind him. They drove down some twists and turns and around and around the circular path, when AJ made a diversion and backed his truck up at the last minute.

"Watch out!" the soldier behind him called, screeching his truck to a halt. AJ maneuvered his truck by speeding into a river, and right after then, he leapt up and swam ahead.

Back at the school...

Now, the boys were getting both worried and frustrated upon not seeing AJ yet.

Austin looked at his watch and sighed. "He's got a minute!" he called.

Meanwhile...

"UH!" AJ cried, landing face first in the murky sewer water after speeding through the tunnel. He looked at his watch again. "Oh, shit!" he hissed, needing to hurry up.

At the school...

Austin looked at his watch for about the 15th time and sighed again, looking towards the door that AJ had escaped from. "Damn it, Styles." he muttered.

Getting closer and closer to the school, AJ sped through the first forest and ducked down, seeing the two guards on the roof again. He glanced at his watch, and soon enough, the bell was ringing. "Damn." he muttered.

Back at the school, the boys all looked towards the door again, seeing no trace of their friend. They looked pretty bummed.

In the air, Sting was riding in the Military helicopter, scanning the grounds from above to see if AJ had made it back yet. Soon after that, AJ looked up and saw the helicopter, as did the two guards on the roof. They needed to turn away just enough for AJ to run back without getting caught. "Come on, damn it, look away..." he muttered.

Back at the school...

"So now what do we do?" asked Chris.

Alex shook his head. "Nothing. It's already too late, man. Damn it!" he muttered.

Meanwhile, AJ was still out in the field, waiting for his escape.

At the school, the guards began shoving the friends inside along with the rest of the students, and in the cafeteria, Dodge was doing roll call once again. "85...86...87...88...89...90...91." he stopped. "Still 91." he told Hugo.

"Count them again." he commanded.

Up in the air, Sting was still looking for AJ, while the guards on the roof still had their eyes on the (now) two helicopters above. One of the guards said something in Spanish to Hugo through the walkie talkie, and Hugo commanded something else in Espanol. The guards nodded and proceeded to load their guns before shooting towards them, eventually taking down the second copter while Sting looked in surprise.

On the roof, the guards had their attention still turned to the sky, allowing AJ his one and only chance to make it back to the school. He sped across the field, as Dodge counted inside, "86...87...88...89...90...91." He whispered to Hugo, "We've got one boy missing."

The leader was steamed. He slowly glared down the row of boys and paced down the room when he said, "I told you what would happen if one of you was found missing...did you think I was _KIDDING?"_ he screamed.

Meanwhile, AJ climbed back through the classroom window, and since he was still wet from his earlier fall, he stripped off his clothes and used the towel to wrap around his waist, and then continued to speed off.

In the cafeteria...

"You first. Up against the wall, let's go!" Dodge said, shoving Eric Bischoff towards the wall and holding a gun towards him.

Hugo stepped towards Kaz in line and uttered, "You, too. Let's go!" he snapped, shoving him towards the wall next to Eric.

Austin, Jeff, Chris, and Alex all felt nothing but worry for their friend. Hugo looked down the line and stared into Austin's eyes for a few moments, and inside, Aries was terrified that his identity would be found out. Luckily, he moved on.

In the hall, AJ sped down and nearly slipped, making sure he looked like he had just come fresh from the shower.

Meanwhile, three other boys were shoved against the wall and the executions were about to begin, but Hugo and the guards froze in their tracks when AJ appeared in the doorway.

Austin and the boys whipped their heads in his direction.

"Fucking finally." Aries muttered.

Styles ran into the room where Dodge stopped him and held a gun towards him. "Oh, jeez, I am so sorry!" he pleaded, out of breath. "I was in the shower, and I didn't hear the bell at all." he announced as Hugo approached him.

Dodge held AJ by the neck. "He's wet."

Hugo stroked a hand through Styles' hair. "Very wet. I need to have a word with you, come on!" he said, leading him out of the room.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm sorry!" he cried from a distance.

From the predicament that Kaz was almost in, he sighed in relief once Dodge said, "All right, back in line, all of you. It's over."

In the meantime, Hugo had taken AJ to the office for a little chat...

"My father sent me to a school a lot similar to this one." the terrorist said, but AJ wasn't listening as he noticed that Rob's plane just happened to be there in the office. Hugo continued, "I've been to the Academy of Pennsylvania. Perhaps you've heard of it."

AJ still wasn't really listening once he noticed a vent in the ceiling, right above the desk. A plan was definitely forming in his mind.

"Uh yeah, I think." AJ nodded.

Hugo chuckled silently. "You don't have any sense of discipline, do you?"

"Look, I'm sorry about the shower thing. Next time I pro-" he was cut off when Hugo forcefully grabbed him by the neck and forced him down on the desk. He slammed into the hard wood. "Oh, shit!" Styles cried, bracing for what was next. "Oh, shit..."

"I'm going to teach you a lesson you will surely remember." he uttered before whipping out a ruler and forcibly whipping AJ on the back with it. Styles screamed in pain with each hit to his back, and he could feel his wounds forming and himself beginning to bleed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Back in the communications tent outside...

"The basement the kid was talking about? It's not shown anywhere here on the map." one of the Generals announced.

"Oh, it's there all right, I've been in it." replied Sting, pointing to the map. "There used to be a building back here, where the kitchen is. Right there, lies a separate basement."

General Stevenson said, "So, the building's directly above it, sir."

"Yes."

"So if the hostages were in the basement, and the building blew up, then there'd be a good chance that they'd survive." he continued.

"Well, the building was built back in 1881." said Sting.

"And a lot has happened since then. What about the explosives?" he asked.

"Well it's interesting what the kids say about switching the chips in the remote control receiver." another guy there said.

"Could it work?" asked Stevenson.

"It's possible. I wouldn't want to take the responsibility for letting the kid try this, but it could work." he replied.

"Men, it's over. Washington has authorized me to make a deal." announced Otis.

Sting looked up towards him, intrigued.

"What are we giving him?" asked the guy.

"Whatever it takes to get the hostages free." he replied.

"We have a shot at a successful assault here." announced Stevenson, looking at the map of the school. "We know the location of every terrorist! The boy can get the other students out there in the line of fire."

"Look, this kid has been kicked out of two schools..." began Otis.

"Three schools." corrected Sting.

"THREE schools, so come on! All of this is unreliable." he finished.

"Well, that's not entirely true. I mean, I'd never rely on AJ ever getting to class on time, but I would rely on this." Sting said surely.

"Why?" asked Otis.

"Because he's got guts, he's the leader of the pack!" he exclaimed. "By the looks of this, it's obvious he's really thought all this out. And if AJ says that he can do it, then like I said...I believe in him."

Otis stared at him. "If everything goes perfect, can we guarantee no casualties among the hostages?" he asked.

Sting paused for a moment.

"Guarantee? Of course not." Stevenson said, shaking his head.

"Then our orders are to cut some kind of deal." replied Otis.

Back in the office, Hugo was on the phone with Otis and the guys outside...

"That's unacceptable." he said.

"Well, I'll have to go back to the authorities, and we'll need time to discuss this." replied Otis.

"I understand. In recognition to your willingness to negotiate, the execution schedule for 5pm today will be postponed. However, if we have not concluded a deal by 5pm tomorrow, there will be no further delays." he replied, hanging up.

* * *

><p>In San Diego state prison, the angry inmates were screaming incoherently as about 5 cops arrived to Hugo's father, Guliano Chavez's padlocked cell room. They shoved him out and began shackling his ankles and wrists with handcuffs as he himself looked pissed.<p>

A little later, he was talking to someone in the interrogation room.

"We just got a message from Joseph Aries." the man said. "Aries' kid Austin goes to the Rockmore school, and obviously with the situation going on there, he wants him out. And if you're a good guy, you'll do us a favor."

"Give me something to write with." Guliano said.

He handed him a pad and paper, and Guliano wrote down some numbers for some apparent reason. "Give these numbers to my son." he replied.

Meanwhile...

"They're receiving another message." an FBI agent said. The numbers that Guliano had written down were said over the monitor in the office at the school, where Hugo was writing them all down. The question was, what were these numbers even for?

* * *

><p>Outside, Kaz was taking care of the horrible wounds spread over AJ's back from the attack from earlier.<p>

"I can't believe he did this to you, man." Kaz muttered, patting a towel across his back.

"Hey, I survived, that's all that matters." Styles replied as he put his shirt back on. "I'm sorry I almost let you guys down by getting back to the cafeteria so late."

"Hey, man, don't apologize for anything." Austin replied. "You managed to complete the deed AND still make it back alive. You've got balls, kid, and I really respect what you did for us."

AJ turned to him. "You really mean that, man?"

He nodded. "You're not so bad after all."

Alex smiled. "Aw, so does that make you two friends now or something?" he asked.

Aries and Styles looked at one another.

"Frenemies is more like it." Styles said, holding out his hand.

Aries chuckled and shook his hand. "Done deal." he agreed.

Soon after that, Eric Bischoff joined the gang.

"How are you feeling?" he asked AJ.

"Fine." AJ nodded quietly.

He nodded back. "Uh, Jake, please come to the office." he told Austin. "They want to talk to you for a sec."

The boys turned to Austin and he looked confused. "Why me?"

"I don't think they want to hurt you. I'll come with you if you want." Bischoff replied.

He looked at his friends and paused before he quietly replied, "All right."

As Eric led him away, AJ and the boys couldn't help but to feel a sense of worry for their new friend.

...

In the office, Austin slowly approached Hugo at his desk.

Hugo glared at him before saying, "We're letting you go."

Austin's eyes widened. "What?"

"You're free to go." Hugo repeated. "This man will take you to the main entrance. All you have to do is walk down the driveway."

Austin was still at a loss for words before he asked again, "Why me?"

"Because we respect your father, Austin." he nodded, saying his real name.

He stepped back a bit. "N-No, my name's Jake! Jake Stone! My father's name is Thomas Stone, remember?" he asked.

Hugo chuckled. "Oh, don't play dumb with me, Mr. Aries, I know exactly who you are and why you came back here under a new name."

"How?" he demanded.

"A simple shave and a change of hair color can't fool me! I knew you from the moment I called you out that day, but I didn't want to say anything until I heard word from your father." he explained.

"But if I was the one you wanted the entire time, then why terrorize everyone else? Why didn't you just take me instead?" Austin demanded.

Hugo smirked. "Because I just wanted to have a little fun. And since I know who your father really is, the former assistant judge AND mafia boss, I respect him for the actions that he's done for us."

Austin shook his head. "Fuck my father." he said scornfully. "And fuck you!"

All Hugo could do was laugh.

Eric tried to control Austin, but he continued, "I am not going ANYWHERE without my friends!"

"Oh, yes you are." Hugo replied.

Austin shook his head and was about to protest, when Eric called, "Don't fight him, just GO!"

Soon after that, the guard grabbed Aries by the arm and shoved him out of the room while he grunted and cried, "NO! Damn it, LET GO OF ME!"

His screams could be heard down the hall, and Eric turned to glare at Hugo as Hugo chuckled. Down the hall, the guard was trying to force Austin to walk ahead, but then, Aries' quick instinct came in when he saw the gun that the guard was carrying.

"Ok, ok, wait!" Austin cried.

"What?"

"I'm going." he said calmly. After following orders, he caught the guard by surprise when he kneed the terrorist in the gut, kicked and punched him down a few times, and then managed to snatch the machine gun. Aries whacked the guard in the back a few times with the gun for good measure, and then ran off. Right after that, he emerged in the front doorway, and looked around to find his friends.

The boys were all huddled around a water fountain, when Jeff caught him first. "Guys, guys look, he has a gun!" he cried. They all whipped around, but one of the other guards who were already positioned outside caught the teenager holding the gun and acted on first instinct to begin shooting towards him. Aries fought back by shooting towards the guard, and hearing all the gunshots, the boys stared in wide eyed horror.

"Austin, NO-AUSTIN!" AJ, Kaz, Jeff, Chris, and Alex all yelled.

But the guard got the upper hand as he managed to shoot Aries a good 5 or 6 times in the chest. Aries' round of shots stopped as he looked down at his chest and then collapsed onto the stairs, lifeless.

"NOOOOOO!" AJ screamed while Kaz was the one to hold him back. "AUSTIN! GOD, NO!"

Hugo, Dodge, and Eric all sped out to the front doorway, where Hugo angrily screamed something towards the guard who shot and killed Austin, as Eric sighed and stared open mouthed in shock.

AJ, along with the others, were still devastated. "GAH! FUCKER!" he screamed towards Hugo. "Let go of me!"

"Come on, man, shh. Shh..." Kaz calmed him down.

Once Hugo, Dodge, and Eric went inside, the boys, who were still in shock, slowly approached their slain friend on the stairs, with the machine gun still clasped in his hand. All five of them looked down at him and bowed their heads in silence as a show of respect for him and what he did, while AJ tearfully and slowly removed the gun from his hand. But before anything else could happen, the guard who killed him ushered the boys back inside.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Austin fans, don't kill me! :S Same exact thing happened to one of the boys in the movie, so I was just following that. Just wanted to tell ya.<strong>_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

A little while later, Sting had heard of the news of his student's death, but he didn't know who it was yet. He, along with a couple of paramedics arrived on campus. Before they could get upstairs, Dodge pointed his gun towards them, when Sting called, "It's ok, they're just here to help."

Hugo nodded and allowed them inside, while Dodge frisked them down. Hugo said next, "It's very important that you explain to him that we did NOT want to kill this boy. In fact, we were releasing him. But he attacked one of my men and we were forced to shoot him."

"I need to see the Headmaster and the other students, please." Sting said from downstairs.

"I can't allow you to do that."

"Well, release Headmaster Bischoff, and take me instead."

"No. It is very important to tell them that we did NOT intend to kill this boy." Hugo reminded him, while the paramedics brought Austin's covered body outside on the gurney. "It was an ACCIDENT!"

"Well it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't come here in the first place!" Sting hissed back.

"No, it wouldn't have happened if the boy didn't come back here in the first place." Hugo retorted, getting angrier. "And it wouldn't have happened if the American government hadn't KIDNAPPED my father!"

Sting unveiled the sheet on the gurney, seeing that Austin was the one who was there. Secretly, he knew that Austin had returned under another name, but Sting couldn't tell Hugo or anyone since Aries was the boy that they were originally there for. Seeing this before his eyes, Sting's features tightened and he let out a breathy sigh, covering his face.

"Now we will leave as soon as my father is returned to me! You tell them that! Tell them that this one was an accident, but the next one WON'T be!" Hugo continued.

The Dean covered Austin back up with the sheet, before turning to Hugo with tear brimmed eyes, saying, "You know...you're not going to get away with this. I don't know when, but eventually...they're going to find you, and they're going to kill you."

Hugo nodded a little before replying, "You Americans always SAY that! But you never actually DO it!" Then, he looked at Sting one more time and left. Dodge looked down seeing the Dean standing there, saying nothing, and slammed the front door.

* * *

><p>At the motel, Austin's father Joseph had heard the news of his son's death and was sitting in a corner of the room, silent. His bodyguard slowly headed in. "My God, I am sorry." he said quietly.<p>

"This crap about an 'accident', it's a lie. It's an utter fucking lie." Mr. Aries muttered, cracking his knuckles. "I don't believe it."

"Well, that's what they claim." the bodyguard replied.

"How the hell does a kid have an accident where he's shot with a machine gun?" he asked.

"I don't know."

Then, Joseph stood up. "Those people are adults. Not like my son. I think it's time they found out that there's no such thing as an accident." he announced, knowing exactly what he had to do next.

* * *

><p>That night at the school and in the boys' dorm room, the friends were sitting in absolute silence while they couldn't get Austin's death out of their mind. AJ sat on the edge of one of the beds, looking through Austin's sketchbook. He sniffled.<p>

"Styles..." Kaz began quietly, sitting next to him. "You gonna be all right, man?"

He shook his head a little. "I don't know. I don't know whether to be devastated or pissed at him for what he did."

Chris sighed, taking a seat on the edge of the opposite bed, next to Alex. "He didn't have to come back here, and yet he did for us."

"Can't get more heroic than that." Alex agreed quietly. "I just can't believe he's gone."

"Just shows how precious life really is." spoke up Jeff. "I'm really glad that we got the chance to be friends with him before..." he trailed off.

AJ sniffled again, turned the page in Austin's sketchbook and then placed it in Kaz's lap. "It's not fair, man." he spoke up. "I know Austin and I haven't always seen eye to eye on things, but in some way or form, he was still one of my best friends, even when we hated one another. He was still a good kid on the inside who had a fucked up life. I just don't understand why good people like him have to die while scum like those bastards holding us hostage get to keep breathing!" he snapped, getting up to sit in a corner of the room, behind a dresser. Then, his emotions got the best of him as the tears streamed down his face and he let out a few quiet sobs.

Kaz was about to head over and comfort his best friend, but Jeff stopped him. "Let's just give him some time, ok?" he asked, placing a hand on his shoulder while he nodded.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back at the prison, the inmates were still restless from their cells, screaming and tossing out inflamed torches of some sort out of their cages in fury. Then, a man disguised as a cop (who was really working under Austin's father) casually approached a machine, and pulled down a lever, rising up each of the cells and freeing all the prisoners there. The real cops there tried to restore some order, but Hugo's father Guilano tried to get past everyone and escape.<p>

Before he did, another inmate (possibly an ally of Mr. Aries) stood behind Guliano, whipped out a knife, and slashed the Cuban's throat with it. Then, he tossed him over a railing and fell about 3 stories down to the ground. The cops rushed to his body, but it was already too late. Hugo could NOT find out about his father's death, or else a killing spree might begin back at the school.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Back at the communications tent...

"The President has orders for us to proceed as planned." General Stevenson said, showing the Military soldiers another map of the school. "Our assault teams are to move out to the helicopters and stand by."

"You guys stand by the campus and jam everything - radio, TV, microwave, everything. I want an absolute and total blackout." announced Otis.

Sting joined General Stevenson. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Yesterday, your boy AJ Styles suddenly appeared on our side of the wire." he replied. "How'd he do that?"

"There's a large drain area on the west side of the campus, by the kitchen." he began, pinpointing another area on the map. "It's right here. Somehow he and the boys manage to get through. What's happening?"

"Could you show our explosives experts how to get through that drain?" asked Otis.

"Sure thing, but what's happening?" Sting asked again.

"Guliano Chavez was just murdered in prison." replied Stevenson.

"And as soon as Hugo Chavez finds out about his father's death, he'll start killing hostages. In fact, he could very well blow up the entire school." added Otis. "We've got no other choice, we have to go in."

Outside, FBI and some troops clad in black were all waiting out for the right time to go inside.

"Now, we're doing everything we can, but I gotta tell ya - casualties could be high unless your boy does what he says he can do." Otis finished.

"He'll try." agreed Sting.

"He better."

* * *

><p>Inside, AJ was still sitting in the same fixed position in the corner of the room, blankly staring at the wall.<p>

Meanwhile, the others were asleep, when they felt a light shining towards them. Kaz and the guys immediately stirred awake.

"Oh, shit!" Jeff muttered. "It's time."

Kaz ran towards AJ. "Dude, get up, they're flashing the signal over here! We have to do something." he exclaimed.

He glanced up at him. "No, we don't! After what happened today, those terrorists don't give a crap whether we live or die, and for our sakes, we just have to sit in here and shut up. Maybe if we don't reply to them, they'll leave us alone." he replied.

"Are you kidding? This was YOUR plan to begin with!" Alex cried. "We have to tell those troops something!"

"And we will." Jeff said, using his morse code plan. He grabbed a large mirror and shined it out of the window, trying to signal something to the troops.

AJ leapt up. "Knock it off, assmunch!" he snapped, tackling him down and tossing the mirror to the floor.

Jeff whipped around. "Look, it may not have worked, but at least I'm TRYING, which is one hell of a lot more than you're doing right now!"

"Nothing's going to work anymore, damn it!" Styles exclaimed.

"So what, are you saying that we should just drop the plan?" demanded Kaz. "Because we're not!"

"We don't have any choice, Frankie, we've taken too many risks already, and we need to just stop while we're ahead!" he pointed to the scars on his back. "Look at this! This is what I get for risking everyone's lives! I'm a damn reject, anyway, so what more can I do without getting us all eventually killed?"

"Hey, knock it off. We're all rejects here, and that's exactly what's bonded us all together. We always have a choice." Kaz said back. "We have done way too much already to turn back. You were this close to getting yourself killed after delivering the info to the troops that day."

"And my lateness almost got YOU killed!" AJ cried.

"But you came through and I'm just fine." he said calmly. "Now listen, we ARE still going through with switching the plane's chip with the chip in Hugo's device."

"That's absolutely right. You were the one to come up with the plan, Styles, and we all agreed that it would work. You have to believe in yourself, just as much as we believe in you." Chris agreed. "We have to do this."

"Look, if you're saying that I have to do this for Austin-" he began.

"Dude, you know EXACTLY why you have to do this and who you have to do it for." Alex interrupted with a serious look.

Styles was quiet.

"And we'll be 100% with you, man, that's a promise." he finished, patting him on the shoulder.

"So Styles, what do you say?" asked Jeff.

He looked around at his friends and then a small smile crossed his face. "Well rejects, we've got one hell of a lot of work to do. And Rob," he began, turning to him who was totally quiet the entire time. "I'm gonna need your help to do this."

Van Dam looked wide eyes around at everyone. "...Me?" he cried.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Hugo was still sleeping, the device on his wrist clearly beeping and alert, and soon woke up. Looking at his watch, he got up and turned on the TV, but...it wouldn't turn on. Puzzled, he tried to turn on the lamp, but it wouldn't work, either. Then, he turned to the phone, which worked. "Are you there? What are you trying to do?" he asked.<p>

On the other end, Otis said-well, lied, "Y'see, there's been a power failure that affected the whole county. They're working on it."

"I see. Well, you have exactly one hour to fix it. After that, I will kill one hostage every 15 minutes until it's back on." he announced.

In the cafeteria, the boys were chatting and having some breakfast. AJ and the gang were getting their plan started, too. Oh what fun this would be.

Kaz, Jeff, Alex, and Chris walked to every few tables and whispered something to the other boys, while AJ did the same. Then, he approached Rob and Eric Young, who just happened to be there, too. "The next guy who comes out of the bathroom, you two go in, ok?" AJ asked the two, who looked at one another in question.

Outside, Sting was talking to one of the troops. "When you come out of the storm drain, and you stay to the right, you're at the hill over there." he said, pointing to a diversion area on another map. "You'll be undercover until you get to this point right here. You know, it'd be a lot easier if I went along with you."

The troop shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, but I can't let you do that. You'll be fine in the back." he said, heading off through the tunnel which ran through a river of sewer water, while Sting looked a little pissed and could only look in his direction.

Back inside...

"Hey, you guys ready?" Kaz asked a group of boys, while AJ snuck into the nearest bathroom. Rob and Eric were already there.

Styles turned on the faucet and told EY, "Ok, if anything goes wrong, just turn off the water and we'll hear you."

"Okey dokey." he nodded.

"Rob, follow me." he said, before climbing up one of the stalls, opening up the vent into the ceiling, and grabbing onto the edges. Before he went in, Van Dam asked, "Wait, dude, you gotta be sure that this thing leads to Sting's office. Right?"

He scoffed. "Duh, how else do you think I got in there to steal his furniture?" he joked. "Besides, it's not like we're diffusing a bomb!"

Rob just stood there, scared.

"Ok, maybe we are. But still, lighten the hell up! C'mon." he finished, climbing inside, with Rob soon following suit. Eventually, the two managed to squirm themselves into the small vent, with AJ leading the way and crawling backwards, with Rob facing him while he followed along.

...

In the cafeteria, Alex checked his watch. In the vent, AJ looked at his watch and pressed a button. Alex looked at his watch once more and saw his signal to begin his part of the plan. Shelley took a sip of his orange juice, but suddenly began having trouble breathing. He wrapped his hands around his throat, gasping for air. Chris, who was next to him, asked, "Alex-Alex, you all right?"

"N-No!-I...can't breathe!" he choked out. "Need...inhaler!" As his condition got 'worse', he collapsed to the ground as the boys huddled around him.

"ALEX!" Chris screamed. "Somebody get his inhaler, he's having an asthma attack! HURRY!"

Eric Bischoff sped to the scene, getting through the crowd. "Move over, move over!" he called, handing Alex his inhaler. "Breathe, son, breathe!"

...

Back in the vent, AJ finally reached the opening of the second vent that led to Sting's office. He peeked down to see one of the guards telling Hugo, "Sir, there's something wrong with one of the kids in the cafeteria. He's having trouble breathing or something."

"All right, let me see." he replied, heading out.

With the room now empty, the vent door opened, and AJ maneuvered himself out and landed on the desk. Then, he found Rob's plane and unscrewed it. "Now what?" he called.

Rob peeked out of the vent. "You see that huge box on the table over there?"

He pointed to a silver device.

"No, that's the detonator! The blue box!"

He took the smaller box.

"Good, now take the casing off of it." he explained.

...

Back in the cafeteria, Alex was still having his attack when Hugo and Dodge got there.

"I have to give the boy his medicine." Eric said, handing him the inhaler.

Alex shakily took it and gratefully breathed it in.

...

In the office...

AJ slowly and carefully dismembered the blue box, sliding out a plate which had many wires and knobs inside. He smiled. "Now what?" he asked Rob.

"Ok, now very very ,VERY carefully, take the red chip out of the receiver." he instructed.

AJ nodded and looked at the receiver, but there was a small problem. "There isn't any red chip."

"There has to be."

AJ looked again. "Dude, there is no red chip anywhere in this thing. I see a blue chip that's the same size, but there's NO red one!" he cried, a little frustrated.

Rob sighed in equal frustration and then replied, "...Well...that's gotta be it, then."

AJ rolled his eyes. "Is it, or isn't it?" he demanded.

Rob shook his head. "...I don't know." he concluded.

Defeated, Styles, dropped his arms in annoyance.

...

In the cafeteria...

Alex was unable to take his medication on his own, still gasping heavily, and Eric had to force the inhaler in his mouth to help him out. Chris held his wrist to keep him still.

"It's going to be all right, man, you're gonna be fine." he told his best friend.

After taking the inhaler, Alex removed it and his breathing began to return to normal.

Eric turned to Dodge and Hugo. "You guys see how bad his condition is! He has a history of asthma, you see how sick he is! You gotta call an ambulance!" he cried.

Hugo muttered something to Dodge and he headed off. Hugo bent down to examine Alex, and as soon as Alex saw the red light beeping on the device on Hugo's wrist, he sighed and a small smile crept on his face.

...

In the office...

The red light on the blue box was still blinking, and AJ had to act fast. Rob was so nervous that he nearly forgot to breathe, but soon enough, Styles carefully managed to remove the chip, and the red light on the blue box stopped blinking.

In the cafeteria...

Alex saw the red light on Hugo's device stop blinking, and his asthma attack began once again. He wrapped his hands around his neck, gasping heavily while he snatched up his inhaler once more.

In the office...

Next, he placed the blue chip into a compartment on the plane, and took the chip that once belonged to the plane and looked up to Rob for further instruction.

"Ok, just slide it right in." he said.

He nodded and slid the plane's chip into the blue box connected to the detonator.

In the cafeteria...

The red light on the device that Hugo wore turned back on, and Alex knew that the chips were switched. He took another breather on his inhaler before smiling. "Hmm..." he sighed.

"You ok, man?" asked Chris.

"I..I think so." he uttered.

In the office...

AJ was quickly screwing the plane back together and flashed a smile towards Rob. But then, he heard the doorknob turning and he muttered, "Oh, shit!" He placed the plane back where they had found it, Rob closed the vent door, and AJ rolled over the desk and fell on the floor, before scrunching himself in the space under the desk. Soon after that, Dodge came back in and looked over a note on the desk, took it, and then headed back out. Immediately after, Rob opened the vent door while AJ climbed onto the desk. He looked up towards the vent. "Watch out, I'm coming in." he whispered before leaping up and maneuvering himself into the small crawl space.

Outside...

Sting still found himself in the sewer flooded tunnel, looking ahead to see where the troops were going. But he was the Icon, damn it, and he couldn't just sit there and watch! "Screw this. I have to do something." he muttered, maneuvering himself through the murky water and heading off.

Meanwhile, three snipers crouched down in the bushes, and across the field, had their eyes on the two guards standing on the roof of the building.

"Engage target!" one of the troops cried. "Confirm target acquisition."

"Targets are up." another one said, focusing his gun. "Fire!"

Right then and there, they fired their guns, simultaneously shooting both guards at the exact same time.

"AGH!" they cried, collapsing onto the roof.

In the cafeteria...

Dodge returned, while Eric Bischoff, Chris, and Hugo were still watching over Alex.

"He has a history of asthma, boss." Dodge told Hugo.

Alex breathed a few more times before sitting up. He flashed everyone a smile while Chris patted his back.

"I'm feeling a little better now, sir." he told Eric.

Outside...

The three snipers rushed across the field, made it to one side of the school, and hid themselves against a few bushes. On the roof, one of the guards was still alive and groaned as he tried to get back up.

Sting sped across the same field, trying to catch up with the snipers. Meanwhile, the snipers sneakily maneuvered themselves across the side of the building and ran ahead. The wounded guard crawled to the edge of the roof and suddenly, a grenade dropped from his palm!

It bounced off of a few shingles and then landed on the ground.

Sting saw the grenade from where he was and decided to hang back a bit. Unfortunately for the snipers, they were at the wrong place at the wrong time as the grenade went off. They yelled out as the force of the explosion sent them flying.

The explosion was also heard in the cafeteria, and Eric, Alex, Chris, Dodge, and Hugo all turned their heads in the direction of the sound.

Hugo muttered some question in Spanish to Dodge, where he replied, "Si." Then, Hugo tried to contact the dead gunmen from the roof, but got no answer. Pissed, he whacked Eric across the head with his walkie talkie.

"OOF!" he cried, holding he side of his head.

Outside, Sting ran across the field, arrived to the school's lawn, and through the smoke left from the explosion, saw that two of the snipers were killed from the explosion. He arrived towards the third one, whose leg was seriously wounded. The Dean tied a belt across his leg to try and stop the blood loss.

In the bathroom, Eric Young casually stood there while the water was still running, but when a guard walked in, he gasped and rushed back to the sink, pretending to wash his hands. The guard waked to the opposite side of the room to use one of the urinals, but when Eric turned off the faucet, the guard turned back to glare at him. EY was so terrified that he forgot about the plan, dried his hands, and sped out of the room. Uh oh. EY arrived to the kitchen, tapped Kaz on the arm, shook his head, and quickly scurried off. Kaz was a little alarmed at this and knew that he had to do something next.

Meanwhile, Dodge and Hugo sped outside through the front door, with Dodge holding his gun ready. Hugo yelled for another one of his guards over the walkie talkie, to no avail.

"It's not gonna do any good, the radios are jammed." Dodge told him.

He nodded and then commanded in Spanish for his assistant to head somewhere else.

"Gotcha." he said, heading off.

In the bathroom...

The guard headed towards the sink to wash his hands. In the vent, AJ and Rob were headed back, with Rob crawling backwards. They both heard the sink still running.

"Shh. Listen." AJ whispered. "Do you hear the sink running?"

"Yeah." he nodded.

"Good, I thought we were in trouble. Let's go."

Meanwhile, the guard was still washing his hands, but from the mirror, he saw the vent opening and froze. Then, he slowly grabbed his gun and turned around to see Rob's legs dangling from out of the vent. Once he maneuvered himself down, he froze upon seeing the guard there instead of Eric.

"Shh." the guard hushed, pulling him aside and waiting for AJ to come down next.

"Ah. Now was that so hard?" he asked with a smile, but once he turned around, his expression immediately turned to fear while he held his hands up for the guard. The guard had an evil smirk once he had both AJ and Rob cornered with his gun. Kaz headed into the room next, but before the guard could attack him, AJ reacted first by leaping up onto the guard's back, holding him in a modified headlock while Kaz tried to wrestle the gun out of his grasp. The boys backed the guard into the wall a few times until they all tumbled over to the floor, the gun flying out of his hands and onto the floor.

"Grab it, Rob!" AJ yelled.

Rob snatched up the gun, but naturally he was nervous as hell, so he dropped it a few times before grasping it, and put in his two cents by forcefully knocking the guard unconscious with the weapon.


	13. Chapter 13

**_AN: Just wanted to tell ya that the next chapter is the last one in the story. *tear tear*_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

Outside, Sting was still tending to the last remaining sniper, and now this was probably his chance to go in and save the boys. He grabbed the sniper's walkie talkie.

"Wait, remember, they jammed all the radios." the sniper said. "But there's still a connection in the Headmaster's office."

"All right, let's go." Sting agreed, helping the wounded man along before they headed off.

Back in the cafeteria, Kaz, Rob, and AJ arrived out of the bathroom and went back to their seats, while AJ glanced at another guard once he headed to the kitchen to complete more of his kitchen duty. The guard was pretty suspicious, so he decided to follow him.

Inside, AJ slipped on his apron and the guard came in asking, "You supposed to be in here?"

"Yep. I'm on probation and I'm supposed to be on pots and pans."

"Posapans? What's posapans?" the gullible guard asked in a heavy Spanish accent.

"No, POTS and PANS." AJ clarified, holding up a pot and a pan for him to see. "See, the worst punishment they decided to give me was dealing with pots and pans. I gotta clean this shit after every meal, so it bites." he explained.

"Oh, ok." he smiled and nodded. But as soon as his back was turned, AJ whacked him on the back of the head with his skillet!

"Pots and pans, bitch." he smirked, looking at the fallen guard.

Meanwhile, Hugo rushed upstairs towards the watchtower and met up with the two guards there. He said something in Espanol to them, but paused once they all heard sounds of helicopters. Pissed, he yelled out something else in Spanish before heading off again. Meanwhile, Dodge crawled onto the roof and hid behind a small structure, seeing the two helicopters headed his way. Then, he noticed the two dead guards on the roof a few feet away from him, and saw the weapons that they still had. He sped over and grabbed a grenade launcher, but when he aimed it towards the two helicopters, he knew that one man couldn't destroy two powered machines. Flustered, he tried to fire, but the machine guns attached to the helicopters fired first, peddling Dodge with bullets and killing him instantly. The sorry bastard had it coming to him.

In the watchtower, Hugo and the guards heard the gunshots, and he yelled out something in Spanish, before he sped off.

In the cafeteria, yet another gunman paced around the room, but while he had his back turned, Jeff kicked him in the back of the leg, taking him down and then proceeded to hold him in a headlock and beat the living shit out of him, allowing Kaz to snatch his gun. Right after that, AJ sped out of the kitchen, holding the guard's gun and yelling, "EVERYBODY, LET'S GO! EVERYBODY IN THE KITCHEN, IN THE KITCHEN! MOVE! COME ON, COME ON, MOVE! HURRY UP!" he stood on a table and screamed.

The boys all leapt up and followed orders, speeding into the kitchen at once.

On the roof, one of the helicopters landed and the troops leapt out and crouched down on the roof, with their guns ready. Meanwhile, the two guards standing on the watchtower were minding their own business, but whipped around once they saw the other helicopter cornering them. Before they could shoot, the helicopter fired back and killed those two sorry bastards next!

Meanwhile, Jeff led the way and opened the secret door in the back of the kitchen, with the gang of boys following him down the stairs. He stepped aside and let them all go first.

In the infirmary, two more guards heard the gunshots, looked around, and then sped out of the room. Soon after, two troops kicked in through the windows and let themselves in, before following the two gunmen.

Meanwhile, the rest of the boys were still headed down the stairs with AJ staying behind to make sure that they were all accounted for, and both Alex and Chris assisted the boys downstairs into crawling in through the man made hole in the wall. Upstairs, AJ blocked the trap door so that nobody else could get inside, and then sped off with his gun still in tow.

Outside, Hugo and two other guards sped across campus, with him yelling a command to them in Spanish. Up ahead, the helicopter hovered over the area. Hugo crossed to the west building and headed inside, with his two henchmen firing towards the helicopter, but since that wasn't working, they hid somewhere else. Next, one of the troops fired towards one of the henchmen, when he fired back in retaliation. The troops lowered themselves from the copter and spread out, while at the same time, two MORE copters landed onto the field and hoards of troops spread out and forced themselves into the building. Another two copters were hovering over the area in case anyone needed backup.

Meanwhile, Hugo sped into the kitchen, shocked to find it empty except for the guard who was knocked out on the ground. AJ hid behind the kitchen door, with his gun ready. In the gang's secret basement, the entire student body were all there, including Eric Bischoff, with an ice pack over his head. They were all safe for now.

"Shh!" Kaz shushed, trying to quiet everyone down. Alex somehow managed to still have a bottle of the spiked Robitussin and handed it to Bischoff. "Drink up!" Shelley exclaimed with a smile. "Ain't no fussin with the Tussin!"

"Oh, thank you." he said, taking a sip of the Cognac spiked stuff. He coughed and nearly gagged. "Damn my life." he muttered.

Back in the cafeteria, Hugo screamed something else in Espanol, while AJ was still behind the kitchen door. Hugo pushed open the door and stood in the doorway, but saw nothing. He half turned away, but when AJ stepped up, Hugo slammed the door into AJ's side.

"AH!" he cried out in pain.

"GET UP!" he screamed, grabbing him by the arm and taking him away.

Outside, all hell was breaking loose. The troops were spread out all over campus, shooting at whoever enemies they could see, while Hugo's two gunmen were still out there trying to fend them off. He fired towards them, but they fired back, killing the first gunman next. Shots were all over the place, and soon after, a few troops sped to the empty doorway where the second gunman was. Another small bomb was thrown there, killing him, and the rest of the troops entered the school.

The situation was becoming a complete bloodbath. Inside, the two guards who had run out of the infirmary sped downstairs to the first floor, firing their guns, while at the same time Hugo dragged AJ in through one of the side doors and into the same area. Some more troops ran in through another hall. "HOLD YOUR FIRE, HE'S GOT A HOSTAGE!" one of them shouted. The two gunmen were safe for now and sped past Hugo into another area, with Hugo holding one arm around Styles and pointing his gun towards the troops, backing away.


	14. Chapter 14

**_AN: Last chappie, you guys, and the exciting conclusion! Just want to take this moment to thank everyone who favorited, alerted, read, and reviewed from the beginning! (450AirBourne, KrazyCooks13, Wolfgirl777769, and KrystynaCenaxD, you guys RULE!)_  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

Outside, Sting and the wounded sniper were attempting to get inside, but the sniper couldn't hold up any longer. Sting gently sat him down for a rest.

Inside, Hugo, AJ, and the two gunmen entered another room. The gunmen hid themselves behind a desk trying to fight off the oncoming troops, allowing Hugo to drag Styles back into Sting's office. He slammed the door.

Outside, Sting paused for a moment and heard some pretty nearby sounding shots, leaning closer to a wall.

"Here." the sniper said, handing him his gun.

Inside of the office, Hugo still held his gun out while tightly holding AJ in a headlock, but this time the lead terrorist appeared flustered, almost...scared.

Outside, Sting climbed up the wall and headed towards the source of the sound of the shots being fired.

In the office, Hugo shakily muttered something while a terrified Styles cried, "Oh, God..."

Sting climbed up the wall, while inside, as a desperate measure, Hugo pushed the button on his device. Only, instead of the place blowing up, the engine on the plane started instead! Both of them turned their heads to the whirring sound, and Hugo was baffled at this. AJ, on the other hand, was overjoyed on the inside, smiling a little. Pissed off, Hugo let out an angry yell and whipped Styles around, piercing his eyes into the teenager's and holding his gun under his chin.

"Sir, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." AJ pleaded in a rush.

More gunshots sounded from outside and Hugo yelled again, holding AJ back in the headlock and pointing out his gun. In the meantime, Sting had climbed up onto another surface, to the window of his own office, and happened to see Hugo holding AJ hostage. He knew he had to do something, and fast. Inside, he then saw the two struggling, followed by Hugo reaching for the orange wires that were also rigged to make the place explode! The Dean looked down to the sniper and asked, "What's going to happen if the wires are cut?"

"The place will blow up! Shoot him!" he cried.

Before Hugo could touch the wires, the troops kicked down the door and the terrorist grabbed onto AJ and tried to fend off the men with his gun once more. He shot towards them, right when Sting dived through the glass and joined everyone else for the action.

Hugo whipped around and shot towards Sting. One of the troops took the chance and managed to shoot Hugo square in the head. With blood dripping down his forehead, the sorry fucker slumped to the ground, finally dead.

Meanwhile, Sting found that he was shot in the upper chest, and winced once he covered his wound. The rest of the troops stormed in the room to make sure that Hugo was dead, and indeed, he was. Sting saw AJ and rolled Hugo's body off of him, pulling the teenager next to him.

For a moment, they both looked towards Hugo and were at a loss for words, when AJ spoke up and asked, "Are you all right?"

He turned to him. "Now I am."

* * *

><p>Moments later, the bomb squad successfully managed to diffuse the wires and unhooked them from off of the building, while AJ helped a wounded Sting out of the room and sat him down on a bench in the hallway. Styles turned to him. "Gosh. Sir, I'm-I'm sorry I was such an ass to you." he apologized. "Since you saved my life and all."<p>

"Ah, it's all right. Besides, I'm damn proud of you, son. You kept your word and pulled through. Things could've ended up a lot worse around here." Sting replied. "Plus, there's a good chance that you just might graduate in this lifetime!"

"That's very true, sir. So since I pretty much saved the world, does that take me off kitchen duty?" he asked.

"Hell no. Just because you saved the world doesn't mean you get off THAT easy." the older man replied.

Soon after, they looked at each other and then bursted out laughing, with Sting playfully tassling AJ's hair. In a way, despite his hardheadedness and constant smart-ass demeanor, AJ respected Sting and felt that he was like a father to him. Similarly, although he had to be tough on him at times, Sting felt that AJ was like the son he never had, too. And after today, Styles was considering never being late to class again...Yeah, right. That was one habit of his that would never change.

...

A little while later, the gates on the side of the school opened, and troops liberated the students as they gratefully ran outside into the fresh air. Never had it been so good to be outside! Kaz, Jeff, Alex, and Chris all headed out, and their main concern was where AJ was.

"Hey, anyone seen AJ?" Kaz asked a few other boys.

"Where the hell is he?" Jeff muttered, looking around.

"Have you seen AJ?" Chris asked another group of kids.

Then, Alex noticed that an ambulance was driving down the road. "Hey, hey, maybe he's in the ambulance!" he called. The friends sped to the vehicle and tried to look inside.

"You see him?" asked Jeff.

Kaz's expression fell. "No. Damn it, where is he?"

From the same direction that the ambulance came, AJ ran down the road and caught his friends. "GUYS!"

They whipped around and lit up upon seeing him again, and they all joined together, embracing him in a group hug.

"YOU DID IT!" Alex yelled happily. Rob and Eric Young ran in to join in the hug.

"WHOO!" cheered Chris. "VICTORY!"

"No, no, I couldn't have done it without you guys!" AJ announced. "Great work, Rejects."

"Well, now that the bad guys are all gone, we gotta celebrate! Anyone have anything in mind?" asked Kaz.

"I got it! Free shots of Cognac inspired Robitussin on ME!" Jeff announced.

"Ha, that Robitussin thing was MY idea, don't steal my thunder!" AJ laughed, play fighting him while Jeff laughed and fought back.

"Stop fighting and make nice, damn it!" Kaz cried, joining in on the 'fight', along with Alex and Chris.

Meanwhile, Rob and Eric shared a congratulatory handshake and casually walked off, still not used to the unorthodox nature of the boys' actions. But as for AJ, Kaz, Jeff, Chris, and Alex, they never would've dreamed that their friendship, along with their intellect and recklessness, would ever be able to get them to save an entire school from terrorists.

The lesson of this story - NEVER underestimate the rebels, because if you mess with them, they WILL fight back.


End file.
